The Key Element
by tangledwire
Summary: Adventure further ensues when the Lyoko warriors find a girl who holds the keys to Lyoko and the life of Xana. Rated T for upcoming violence.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Aelita, wait up!" The young blonde boy yelled as he and his brunette friend raced after the virtual princess. Her cotton candy pink hair clung to her head while she sprinted towards the glowing red tower, every ounce of her small body overcome with adrenaline. Her breath came out in rapid pants, she was so close. Smirking to herself, she continued to speed up, laughing at her friend's pleas for her to slow down. Aelita nearly crashed through the activated tower, the platform quickly lighting up beneath her. As she was gently lifted up into the air, an overwhelming sense of satisfaction came over her. She then proceeded to deactivate the tower.

"Tower, deactivated." Looking up towards where Jeremie's voice usually came from, she waited for the all too familiar words to leak through the tower.

"Great job guys, return to the past, now." Jeremie said quickly. Hitting the enter key, a blinding white light shot out from the old abandoned factory and encompassed everyone in it's path, returning to earlier that day.

"I think I can go without saying that we're getting better at this, that last deactivation only took us fifteen minutes!" Odd said, beaming with youthful excitement.

"Yeah Odd, it'd have probably been sooner if you didn't stop to take 'practice' shots at the air next to the blocks." The group laughed at Ulrich's comment while Odd turned a light shade of red.

"It's weird that we didn't notice Xana's attack though, don't you think? There was the activated tower, but nothing in the real world."

"You're right Yumi." Aelita said, puzzled suddenly. "Even the monsters seemed to be less vicious than normal." She looked at Jeremie, hoping for the genius to come up with a rational answer. Just as Ulrich was about to interrupt the hushed conversation, the bell rang.

"We'll meet up at the factory after lunch," Jeremie said, distracted, "we'll see if anything is out of the ordinary on Lyoko, just to be sure." Nodding in agreement, the group headed off the to the cafeteria.

"Ulrich, darling! I need you, there's a crisis!" The dark haired peer of the Lyoko warriors sauntered over to Ulrich and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong Sissi, lose your hair dryer?" Eying her hair, Odd put a thoughtful hand on his chin as the rest of the group broke out into laughter. With a huff, Sissi slumped away with her trusty followers.

After they had to wait for Odd to finish his three lunches, the friends snuck off to the secret sewage passage to the abandoned factory.

"Alright; Aelita, Ulrich, I'll send you in." The pair nodded and headed towards the scanner room. After Jeremie was sure they stepped in, he spoke clearly the same words he was used to uttering.

"Scanner, Aelita, scanner, Ulrich. Transfer Aelita, transfer Ulrich. Virtualization."

A burst of energy shot through the scanner room as the two young forms were taken from the material world and thrown into a virtual one. Materializing in the ice sector, Ulrich and Aelita quickly sprinted through the area, scanning for any strange activity.

"Even William hasn't been around." Jeremie said through his headset. This was so puzzling to him. Xana had been activating towers and not sending an attack, the monsters were sparse, and they hadn't had even the slightest glimpse of William.

Aelita stopped running abruptly and held her head. The young man put a cautious hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, Princess?" A worried look on his face caused Aelita to stand up straight and ignore the pounding in her head. She smiled at him sweetly and continued running to the next tower. Confused, Ulrich shrugged and continued following her. As he destroyed two blocks, he sheathed his familiar weapon, taking a defensive stance, he listened. A faint rumbling could be heard... beneath him? No... it was behind him now. He looked in all directions, the rumbling was everywhere. Suddenly, a piercing screech was heard through the still, digital air. Aelita gasped and dropped to her knees, clutching her pink locks. Ulrich took a step towards her and was overcome with immense pain to his head. "Ach, Jeremie!" He managed to gasp.

"Yumi, Odd, you need to go in to help!" The blonde boy exclaimed.

"Jeremie, we need to wait for that awful screeching to stop before we can even think about helping.

"Yumi's right," added Odd, a look of confusion on his usually cheerful face, "We can't put up a fight against that!"

"I'm sending in the Overbike, try to get out of there!" Quickly tapping away at his keyboard, the monocycle almost instantly materialized in front of Ulrich.

"Aelita!" He yelled over the head-numbing sound, "try to crawl to the bike!" Grunting and crawling across the ice, Aelita started to progress towards the vehicle. She felt strong pulsations under her struggling body. Ulrich had mounted the Overbike and helped pull the struggling girl up behind him. They headed for the tower. Soaring through the programs and digital current they were transported to the desert sector. The came out at full speed and crashed directly into a rock placed awkwardly in front of the exit site of the tower. Tumbling out, the two hit the ground hard, rolling a good fifteen feet before sliding to a dry halt.

"Are you two okay!?" Jeremie nearly yelled into the microphone. Yumi and Odd materialized in front of them as they quickly recovered. "That actually cost you guys some life points."

"Jeez guys, that was rough," Yumi remarked, a concerned look on her face. "What a weird place for that rock to be."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Jeremie quickly said, "but I'm getting a reading from the digital sea, something's surfacing!" The group ran to the edge of the patch of land and looked over, seeing a massive ripple breaking through the surface. A type of energy orb ripped through the still sea and floated to where the perplexed group of warriors stood. They all backed up, frightened.

"Jeremie," Aelita shakily started, "what is that thing... "

"I wish I knew, be careful, don't touch it until we know what it is."

"Well, who volunteers to get a closer look?" Odd said loudly as the teal orb settled on the ground in front of them. The other three friends looked at one another then at the loud boy clad in a purple cat suit. His tail flicked excitedly at the thought of adventure. Raising an eyebrow, a look of shock lit up his face. "Me?!" He yelled, "why me?"

"You suggested someone volunteer, moron." Ulrich replied, a sly smirk spread across his mouth.

Odd sighed and winked at Yumi, "I guess a real man will have to do this job." He quietly crept over to the orb and put a paw-gloved hand on the energy source. Not having any reaction, he held the glowing ball steadily and looked in. A look of pure amazement flooded his downloaded features and he looked back at his friends. "You guys aren't going to believe this, well, maybe you will I mean nothing really seems out of the ordinary anymore, but this is so weird, or is it, well I don't know again I don't think 'weird' is weird anymore it's more like normal right? Or maybe-"

"Odd!" Aelita and Yumi said in unison, they cut off their flustered team mate and walked over to look in the mystery orb, Ulrich following steadily behind.

Everyone steadying themselves by placing their hands on the orb, they gasped and stared in amazement.

"Guys! Guys what is it? Answer me!" Jeremie yelled. He missed everything. "Are you okay? What's going on!?"

"Jeremie," Yumi stuttered but managed to choke out the amazing discovery, "Jeremie, there's a girl in this thing."

**I hope you like the first chapter! Help me out by reviewing? :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you mean there's a girl, in where?" There was no response from his friends. Jeremie slammed his fists on his knees. "Answer me!"

"There's some sort of energy field, like when Aelita was trapped and we were given a simulation of her," Yumi started, "But now there's someone else in it. Jeremie, what do we do?" She sounded sad, and excited, but also frantic.

"Yumi, listen to me, we're going to take a chance and try to free her from the energy field."

"What if it's another trap by Xana?" Odd interrupted the tension in the room, he gently stroke the orb with his oversized paw.

"We've always been able to handle Xana," Aelita abruptly said, determined to get this girl out. "Besides, what if it's not? What if this can help us in the long run?"

The group nodded in unison and looked at one another, puzzled.

"So," Ulrich dragged on, "what are we supposed to do?"

As he said that, Odd slid back and fired a single arrow at the floating sphere, causing it to bounce and drop back into the digital sea.

"Odd!" Jeremie yelled through the computer, "what are you doing?"

"Oops," he chuckled timidly, "well, you said we should break it!"

"Have some control, Odd, now you've lost her."

"I'm sorry, Yumi."

The rumbling started up again and the orb bounced back up and nearly ran over Aelita. The shimmering, wave like energy surged through it like it was fully charged to light up the sky. The mystery girl's unconscious form was lying still, her arms and legs falling limp. Her short brown hair, similar to Aelita's but brown, gingerly flicked in the sources current. She was dressed in a teal, short sleeved dress, that fell a few inches below her hip. The sides were cinched so that they only met her hips. Underneath the dress was a pair of light gray leggings that seemed to follow up to her light gray shirt, completing a body suit of some sort. The dress was a v-neck, so you could see the shirt peeking through. Here feet were covered with a darker gray boot, almost looking like a knit sock.

Everyone's eyes, especially Odd's traveled across her dormant body, and that's when Aelita noticed the chain connected to the dress. A small, sliver orb connected to an almost thread like chain clung to the fabric of the girl. It floated carelessly in the energy source, bobbing up and down.

Without warning, Yumi sprang up into the air and aggressively threw her tessen fans at the bulbous fear and Aelita joined Ulrich at the opposite side to hold it in place. After her third try to shatter it, she merely slumped to the ground and sighed.

"I think I'm wasting my time." She grunted with displeasure.

"I just don't think you're hitting it hard enough!" Ulrich motioned for her to take his place as he ran around to the front of their obstacle. Taking out his saber, he quickly darted into the air and landed on the top of it, driving the sword into the think outside of the orb. He slid as much as he could down, and then dismounted. "I think my saber got stuck." He remarked. The group let out a roar of laughter.

"It's not funny!"

"What if..."Aelita quietly trailed off.

"What is it?" Jeremie asked, eager to hear her suggestion. He was so excited all of a sudden, what had they discovered?

"Well, what if we all just attacked it at the same time? Full force!" Her eyes lit up as she looked at the other members of the group. They all looked at each other and shrugged.

"Why not?" Yumi responded, "There's nothing to lose."

All four of them took a stance around the orb, they waited for Jeremie to count them off.

"Alright ready? One... Two... Three, attack!"

At his signal the group unleashed a quick, but powerful attack. Odd shot 3 arrows at the center of the bubble, Yumi lept into the air once again and threw her fans, Aelita threw two energy fields, and Ulrich delivered an aggressive impact to the orb. Falling back, they all watched, and waited.

"Anything?" Jeremie asked.

"No..." Ulrich started, but as they were about to retreat to the human world, the orb started to shake.

"Jeremie, wait!" Aelita cried. She stared intently at the orb and gave Jeremie a visual of the sphere of light giving way and shattering. The group covered their heads as the energy field burst, revealing a bright circle of light before disappearing completely. All it left was the strange girl lying on the ground.

"No way..." Yumi said as she and the others stood, amazed by what just happened.

Jeremie sat, typing away at the large computer in front of him, trying to retrieve any data on the girl that he could. He was interrupted by the familiar gasps of his friends. "What's going on?" He excitedly said into the microphone.

"She's waking up." Odd said simply, he was completely perplexed by this situation.

Everyone kept their distance as their new acquaintance lifted herself off of the ground, looking dazed. She lifted her head and gently shook it. Her eyes shot open, revealing light brown, doe eyes. She made intense eye contact with every one, lingering on Aelita. Odd took a step forward cautiously.

"Hey," he lowered his voice and made direct eye contact. "Are you okay?"

"Odd..." Yumi whispered, agitated. "You don't know what or who she is."

He quickly shushed her and took another small step towards the girl, she retreated two feet.

"We don't want to hurt you."

She managed to take a step towards him. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, as if she couldn't figure out what to say.

"I... I'm-"

Just then Jeremie's voice boomed over the system.

"There are four crabs and six blocks coming after you, and our good friend William is with them."

"Uh Jeremie, is there a way to slow them down? We wanna try to talk to her."

"What do you expect me to do, Ulrich?"

William was suddenly in front of Odd, blocking is view from the girl. He shot an arrow at him but he was too fast and dropped low, turning into black smoke. Instead of hitting the desired target, it directly struck the strange girl, knocking her back to the ground. Her torso was surrounded by static, visually showing the damage done. She looked up at Odd and made an almost scoffing noise. Raising her hand, an energy field, much like Aelitas but smaller,and teal, formed into her hand. Without a second thought she struck Odd, instantly de-virtualizing him. While distracted by the crabs, blocks, and William, the rest of the team didn't notice her running away, towards the nearest tower.

"Guys! She's run off, look!" Aelita pointed in the direction where she was running.

"Aelita," Jeremie urged, "go get her, she may be a threat."

She took off flying after the stranger, racing after her. She would occasionally look behind her and release an energy field, hoping she'd hit a monster. Aelita was abruptly stopped by a sudden blow to her chest, falling harshly to the ground, she was greeted by William sprinting towards her. Producing an energy field, she shot at him, and the energy was swiftly absorbed into his blade and used against her, de-virtualizing her.

The yellow doors of the scanner opened and Aelita stumbled out, running towards the elevator to meet Jeremie. As the large door to the computer room opened, she walked quickly over to Jeremie, watching him type vigorously, clear agitation painted his face.

"Jeremie... I'm sorry."

"Aelita it's not your fault, William snuck up on you."

"But I couldn't reach her, what if she's part of a Xana attack."

"Then we'll handle it," he said with a smile, "we do every time."

**Story will not progress without reviews. I won't keep updating a story if no one is reading it!**


	3. Chapter 3

The next day at Kadic Academy, the five friends were seated in the cafeteria, tomorrow would be their day off, and instead of spending it relaxing and socializing, they were going to track down and contain the mystery girl and get some information out of her.

"Do you really think this could be a Xana attack?" Yumi whispered across the table. Everyone sitting at the lunch table scooted their chairs into a cluster to prevent anyone from hearing their conversation. Pushing her tray aside, she leaned in closer, making direct eye contact with Jeremie.

"Well," Odd said through a mouthful of food, "we don't know that for sure, she could be trapped, like Aelita was."

"But wouldn't you think I would remember if I had a sister, or if my father sent someone else into Lyoko with me? Or he would at least send us something to find her; he wouldn't just leave her."

"Hey, I'm just trying to think of a different idea! She doesn't have to be Xana. She looked too.. uh... too-"

"Cute?" Ulrich said, grinning at him from across the table. Yumi looked from Ulrich to Odd, then back. "Don't try to deny it Odd, I saw the way you looked at her."

"Well, she was pretty cute."

"Odd," Jermie interrupted, "don't fraternize with the enemy."

"We don't know if she's an enemy!" Aelita squeaked, flustered by the sudden mixed emotions her friends were giving her. "Tomorrow, we'll go to Lyoko and _find _her, not hunt her down like some kind of animal. Hopefully Xana will stay as quiet as he's been, and we can safely get to her."

"She's right, we need to stay open to new possibilities. We have so far." Ulrich said, looking at Aelita with a smile.

So it was decided. As the group dispersed to their classes, the day dragged on without one hint of Xana. Night came and the five were restless, eager to jump into their new adventure in the morning.

"Odd?" Ulrich asked from across the room, the clock read 2:27am and Ulrich wasn't counting on sleeping.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think we'll find tomorrow? What happens if she's just a Xana attack?"

"Well..." Odd trailed off. Turning to face the wall, he thought about it. He hoped she wasn't. "I guess we'll just have to get rid of her, just like we do with the rest of Xana's monsters."

"What did you see about her that makes you think she's not evil?" The question Ulrich asked his best friend hung in the air. There was a quiet buzzing of the lights and the soft snoring of Kiwi.

"Ugh, I don't know. She just looked, scared. If William hadn't interrupted, I think she wouldn't said something to me.

"Huh." The answer was good enough to Ulrich, every girl Odd saw was a potential for him. This didn't mean anything. With that, Ulrich and Odd both dosed off, satisfied with the questions asked and answers given.

The next morning the friends met at the old factory.

"Alright, Jeremie said, "Xana hasn't activated a tower, so I think it's safe. Head down to the scanner room."

"Scanner, Aelita, Scanner, Yumi. Transfer Aelita, transfer, Yumi. Virualization." The same burst of air struck the two young girls and sent them to Lyoko.

As their virtual forms were materialized, they hung for a moment and dropped onto the desert ground where they last saw the girl. Odd and Ulrich fell almost immediately after them, behind the girls.

"Well Jeremie, I guess we wait?" Yumi questioningly said, looking at Ulrich for reassurance. Seeing him nod, she smiled.

Almost on queue, they heard the familiar lasers shooting, off in the distance. Looking at each other, they started to run in the direction of the noise, toward a tower. The Overbike, Overwing, and Overboard were waiting for them up ahead. Jumping on their designated vehicles, with Aelita riding with Yumi, they took off.

"Guys, watch out, you're in for a fight."

Up ahead they met their match, six crabs with three tarantulas, and four blocks.

"No way," Odd said, "come on Xana."

In the group of monsters, Odd's eyes locked on the vaguely familiar figure cowering in the center. The girl was there, and she looked terrified. Riding closer, the monsters focused some of their attention on the approaching enemies. Ulrich jumped up from the bike and landed on the head of a tarantula. His bike slid into a crab, causing it to explode. He drove his saber into the symbol on the tarantula's head and destroyed it, but he was shot twice by the blocks surrounding him.

"Ulrich, you're being too reckless. Be careful because you only have twenty life points left."

Ulrich simply shrugged and continued to fight. Yumi, trying to get to a tarantula, was hit.

"Energy field." Aelita gasped as she took out her third block. It's body shook and burst, leaving pieces on the ground to disappear. She waved her hand over the charm on her bracelet and flew into the air.

"Ulrich!" Yumi yelled, "Behind you!" Too late. A crab hit Ulrich, devirtualizing him. Launching herself up into the air, she threw her fans, one hitting a tarantula, then flying through a crab, and the other finishing off the last block. Landing roughly on her feet, she caught the two fans and continued to fight, taking out another crab.

Taking out two more crabs, Odd flew and flipped in the air. Having ditched the Overboard, he seemed to be moving erratically. He heard a small shriek to his right, and saw the girl standing at the edge of the desert, being trapped by William. Weighing out his options, Odd carefully aimed his arm at William; using an element of absolute surprise he fired two arrows, both hitting William. With a grunt, he dispersed into the air in the form of black smoke. The young boy took off running towards her, and as he approached her, she looked at him, cautious, but interested. She took a few steps towards, then past him and stood, facing the fight that was taking place. She closed her eyes and suddenly, the remaining monsters were gone.

Turning around to face Odd, she smiled.

"Hi, don't worry, we're not your enemy," Odd reassured her. "What's your name?"

"My name? I'm called SIFVE." She replied flatly, her gaze following Aelita and Yumi as they raced towards them. As they approached, Aelita gasped.

"Hello Aelita," SIFVE calmly said, "I've missed seeing you around."

"Aelita," Jeremie said, puzzled; "who is this?"

"This is SIFVE, or Simulated Intelligence for Virus Eradication. She was created by my father to keep Xana, and all of Lyoko under control. He gave the program a body, so I could have someone to keep me company."

"Xana had captured me while I was taking refuge in a tower, I was gone for a while, long enough for him to have complete control, I see." SIFVE looked around, worried. "How bad has it gotten..."

"More than bad..." Aelita started,

"But less than absolutely horrible." Yumi finished, a small laugh escaped her.

"Aelita, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault."

"Hey, let's not worry about blaming ourselves," Odd said while putting a hand on her shoulder, "now that you're here, you can help."

"Yes." SIFVE replied. "And you can help, right now."

"How?" Yumi asked.

SIFVE didn't respond she just intently stared blankly and suddenly Aelita, Yumi, and Odd were devirtualized.

"Hey!" Jeremie called out to SIFVE. She looked up towards the sky. "What'd you do?"

"Their services aren't needed now. Now that I'm free, I control what's going on for the time being. When the situation is too out of hand, I will allow your friends back to Lyoko. Right now this is a safety procedure and I'm doing it for your own good."

"Now wait. SIFVE! SIFVE!" He slammed his hands down on the keyboard.

Crawling out of the scanners, the three were confused. They rode the elevator back to Jeremie and Ulrich where Jeremie was throwing a huge fit.

"Hey," Ulrich calmly said, "what was all that?"

"I don't know," Aelita responded, "but the SIFVE knows what it's doing."

Jeremie told the group he would try to hack back into the system, which was completely locked, and that he would let them know about his progress in the morning.

"Well, it looks like we're in for a real adventure," Odd remarked.

"You're only being so positive about this because you have the hots for a virus program," retorted Ulrich. The group shot them both a look and silently headed home. They had a new challenge to overcome, fighting against someone who isn't even their enemy.


	4. Chapter 4

It was early. Too early. Jeremie hadn't slept a wink; he was slumped over in his computer chair, there was the gentle tapping of his sleep deprived fingers. A loud yawn escaped the blonde boy. Looking over at his clock, he winced slightly. It had been almost a week since they were locked out o the system, and nothing seemed to be going wrong in their world. Still determined to unlock the access to Lyoko, Jeremie hadn't been sleeping well. Crawling under the covers of his messy bed, he drifted off for what seemed like ten minutes. His alarm clock loudly beeped four times before his hand slammed down on the tiny device. Grunting, Jeremie groggily lifted his head from the soft pillow. A loud alert noise was coming from his computer. Eyes wide, he jumped up and sat down in his chair, almost falling.

"Xana." He whispered. An activated tower alert was blinking on the screen. "SIFVE must've unlocked it." Quickly dialing his phone, he called the group and told them to meet at the factory.

Meanwhile, the Lyoko girl was in massive amounts of trouble. Heading towards the activated tower, she was stopped by William. He pushed her to the ground and pinned her down. Lifting his body off of her, he lifted up his hefty weapon, bringing it down, it just about hit her when she flickered, then disappeared. He looked around, confused, grunting in irritation. A slight gasp caused William to turn around just as a rope of teal colored energy wrapped around him, locking him in place. She lifted the enemy into the air and forcefully drove him into the digital sea. A shock to the upper body knocked her to the ground. A block shot her down. Massive amounts of Xana's monsters seemed to be pouring out of nowhere.

Almost as if they could sense her need of assistance, Odd and Yumi virtualized in front of her, dropping to the ground. Ulrich soon followed.

"Where's Aelita?" SIFVE asked.

"She's here with me," Jeremie replied, "I don't fully trust her around you."

She grunted with disapproval. Quickly looking between Odd and Yumi, then Ulrich, she managed a faint smile. As a massive fight broke out, Aelita watched, worried for her friends.

"You know Jeremie, my father did give the SIFVE a name, I just never programmed it to her."

"Why not Aelita? And while we're on the subject of her, why did you lie about not knowing her? What did you think would benefit from this?" The abrasive tone of his voice was very unsettling to her, almost bring tears to her eyes.

"How would you feel if your dad brought someone your age and gender into your life, without warning, treating them like their child. I felt replaced, Jeremie, I resent the SIFVE for almost taking daddy away from me."

"She's a computer program, to protect you. Did you ever think that maybe your dad wanted you to have a friend on that lonely, desolate place? Aelita, your father may have created someone like you to keep you company while providing protection."

What followed was complete silence as the pair watched the decrease in the amount of monsters.

"Mina." Aelita quietly whispered into the open.

"What?"

"Her name is Mina." She looked at him apologetically. He glanced at her, and went back to the computer. "I... I can send you the codes."

"We'll deal with that tomorrow."

With tears welling up in her eyes, Aelita quietly excused herself, returning to school.

"Back on Lyoko, almost all off the monsters were gone. Odd flipped off of a crab and shot it point blank, causing it to explode. He looked behind him to make sure she was still there. Molding the raw energy in her hands, she would stretch it out like a tentacle, and wrap it around the monster, in this case, the crabs legs. She twisted her hands so the rope around the mechanical legs and let the creature fall to the ground, destroying it. Yumi took a protective stance near SIFVE and Ulrich covered the both of them.

"We've got a pretty good system," Ulrich said with a laugh, stabbing and destroying a block.

"Jeremie," Yumie called, "Aelita can come and deactivate the tower now."

"Well uh, see Aelita left. I may have accidentally upset her."

The group groaned.

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Yumi yelled, frustrated.

"I can help you." SIFVE calmly stated. "I have the same abilities as Aelita."

The three looked at each other and shrugged.

"Alright, go ahead! I'll escort you," Odd said with a playful bow. Ulrich scoffed.

As the two ran towards the red tower, Yumi and Ulrich struck each other, devirtualizing themselves. Odd and SIFVE were at the tower finally and she turned towards Odd, moving closer to him, "Thank you for making sure I arrived here safely," she told him blankly.

"Oh yeah, it's no pro-" Odd didn't get to finish because she had hit him with an energy blast, devirtualizing him.

Arriving back in the scanner room, he was greeted by Ulrich and Yumi who were staring at him, their eyes were judging.

"What?" He asked with a shrug, "I was just helping!" As he briskly walked past the two, Yumi and Ulrich exchanged glances and followed their purple clad friend to the elevator.

"Jeremie," Ulrich started when they arrived in the computer room, "what happened to Aelita?"

"Hold on." As his thin fingers thumped away at his keyboard, a positive sounding beep erupted form the system. Jeremie's face lit up with excitement as he turned around to face his friends. "SIFVE was given a name with her program. Aelita played dumb because she was actually jealous of this computer... thing."

"Hey," Odd interrupted, "she is not a _thing._" The last word dripped with disgust.

"And I think Aelita had a reason to be jealous," Yumi added, "I can relate."

Jeremie looked at the two in disbelief. "You're all crazy."

"Yeah Jeremie, well, we'll just see you at lunch. We're going to go find Aelita." Ulrich aggressively said as he led the other two out. Jeremie sighed and finished the final programs to plant some memories provided from Franz to SIFVE.

His next goal was to virtualize her, just like he did Aelita. But his newest challenge was a brain teaser; how do you materialize someone, who's not part of the material world? This question had been racking his brain for a while now. This wouldn't be the same as bringing Aelita to him, she was actually a real person who had lived on Earth. For now, he would have to spend most of his time figuring it out.

Behind him, he heard the elevator door open and feet slowly walking towards him. As he turned around, he was greeted by Odd, a sheepish grin painted his pale face. Raising an eyebrow, Jeremie waited.

"Hey Einstein, um, what's her name?" He asked, blushing slightly.

Jeremie broke into a huge smile, laughing softly he looked at his friend, lovestruck over a virtual person. He'd been there, he couldn't judge.

"Her name is Mina. I programmed it for her so now she knows. Franz also stored some basic memories for her. Who created her, what she is capable of, emotions and feelings. She'll be more animated." But Odd wasn't listening.

"Mina," he sighed, smiling. For most of the day, the two friends sat in the factory, learning all the codes and data for Mina. Jeremie explained the struggle of materializing her, and Odd swore he would do all he could to help. A feeling of relief swept over Jeremie, even if it was Odd, at least he had some help now.

**Next chapter, there will be an actual Xana attack!**


	5. Chapter 5

A few days had gone by, Jeremie stayed in his room mostly, trying out new ways to materialize Mina. Though they did talk, there was still obvious tension between him and Aelita; he never apologized. Odd spent the hours either helping Jeremie, or wondering it what it would be like when Mina was finally here. Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich had been spending a lot more time together, strengthening their friendship.

The five were sitting in the cafeteria, the only place where they were all together anymore. Jeremie obsessively rambled on about how close he was getting to materializing Mina while Odd quietly listened, for once only picking at his food. Aelita turned toward them, they spiked her interest. Yumi and Ulrich were carrying on their own conversation, constantly touching each others' hands and grinning.

As Aelita was just about to interrupt Jeremie, the lights when out. A loud groan spread from the kids in the room.

"Now, now." Jim called, his loud voice echoing through the lunch room, "it's just a power outage, it's going to happen sometimes since it's so cold out." Pacing through the rows of lunch tables, he eyed everyone. "Just finish your lunch."

"We should go outside, it's snowing." Aelita lightly placed her hand on top of Jeremie's. With just a small smile, they both stood up and briskly walked outside. Through the window, you could see Jeremie pulling his gray coat around him tighter, and having Aelita lead him by the hand in the clean, white snow outside. Eventually, the rest of the group joined them outside, all being together in the biting cold. Busy with the long overdue togetherness, none of them realized the sky turning dark.

Inside the cafeteria, few students were left, getting ready to return to their next class. A loud boom was heard through room, a loud shriek, caused by Sissi stirred a quiet panic throughout the lunch room. Jim burst through the doors huffing with irritation.

"Everyone calm down, it was probably just thunder." The lights flickered on and off, and one burst over Jim. Ducking down and grunting, he was pushed to the floor. Everyone stood up as he started convulsing on the floor. An older student quickly walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Jim, are you-" he was drowned out by another mysterious boom throughout the room, seeming to shake everything. Looking up quickly, distracted by the sound, his arm was grabbed tightly by Jim. The student looked down at him, and gasped as his eyes flicked to an unnatural color. "Jim?" A loud moan escaped from the gym teacher as he stood up, flinging the boy across the room into a lunch table.

Rosa was watching from behind the counter, "Hey Jim," she called, grabbing his attention, "what is wrong with you?" Staring blankly at her, using almost super speed, Jim was over the counter and beside her, placing a tight hand on her soldier. A gasp escaped the heavy woman's lips as she collapsed, soon awakening in the same state as Jim. By then, the entire room was in chaos, students were scrambling to leave, pushing and shoving people to get out the door to the outside.

"Jeremie!" Aelita yelled as she was about to throw a snowball, "Look!" Jeremie looked at her with a quizzical expression, then averting his gaze to the direction she was looking. Inside the lunchroom, they could see chairs flying and a window breaking.

"This has to be Xana," Odd exclaimed, "we have to go to the factory!"

"You guys go," Yumi said, looking at Ulrich, "Ulrich and I will stay here and try to figure out what's going on and help however we can." Ulrich nodded in agreement and they fled to the lunch hall.

Looking at each other and nodding, the trio took off running to the factory, slipping and tripping on the ice and snow.

Upon arriving at the abandoned factory, they were delayed by a jammed elevator. Or at least they thought it was just stuck due to the cold weather. They hurridly made their way to the stairs and descended to the scanner room, where Jeremie departed, leaving for the computer. Odd and Aelita stood in front of a scanner, waiting for them to open. After about ten minutes, when nothing happened, Odd agreed to climb down into the computer room.

"What's the problem, Einstein?" There was no response, just the quick tapping of Jeremie's hands on the computer.

"Uh, well," There was a pause then more tapping. "The computer won't turn on." Suddenly, panic hit Jeremie, causing him to leap up from his chair and pace frantically, the power outages were affecting everything. "Odd, get Aelita, we need to go to the super computer." They quickly descended on the latter to the large room.

Meanwhile, in Lyoko, a struggling Mina was hiding out in a tower in the ice sector. The panel beneath her lit up, illuminating the large tower. Her body was lifted up into the air, between the lower and upper panels. A teal blue aura surrounded her, flickering and having a hard time staying strong. Quiet grunts of stress came from the small girl as she furrowed her brow, focusing. Outside of the Lyoko tower, the entire ice sector was fading in and out- _Lyoko_ was having trouble staying solid. The small metal ball attached to the fabric of her dress was glowing and shaking. Using her power, and the essence of Lyoko she possessed, Mina was keeping the super computer on, and Lyoko alive. The activated tower was on the other side of the sector.

Taking a deep breath, Mina slowly lowered herself down to the bottom panel, still focusing her energy. Suddenly, the small ball sucked in every ounce of the colored light around her, leaving the little charm bright, floating weightlessly at her side. She cautiously exited the tower, checked her unstable surroundings, and took off for the activated tower.

"This is strange." Jeremie commented when he saw the super computer glowing; it hadn't turned off. "The super computer is still on, so why can't we get online?" Looking back at Odd and Aelita, he shrugged, puzzled. "Let's go back up and try again." The three yet again climbed the later to the computer room, and Jeremie took a seat. Gasping in surprise, the computer was flickering on and off. "What is going on!?" He cried, gesturing for the other two to look.

"Xana's cut the power, we can't get to Lyoko," Aelita exclaimed, saddened by the reality of it.

"And how is the super computer still on? That must be why the elevator isn't working!" Odd realized, looking at the flickering screen. The shared the same expression of fear, and silently stared at the computer, hoping for it to stay on.

Back at Kadic, Yumi and Ulrich had managed to lock themselves inside the lunch room with Jim and Rosa. Ulrich armed with a flimsy cafeteria chair, and Yumi using her advanced combative skills, they were no match for Xana.

As Jim and Rosa groaned and snarled at the two children, Ulrich ran at the pair, swinging the chair as he went. Grabbing the leg of it, Jim smirked at Ulrich, and twisted the legs into a knot, before throwing it back, along with Ulrich. Hitting the ground with a loud thud, Ulrich cried out, having smashed his head against a table.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cried. Her moment of weakness was used to Xana's advantage, as Jim tackled her to the ground, rendering her unconscious. Rosa and her partner quickly bound the two together with plastic wrap, and proceeded out into the courtyard.

Mina ran in an entranced state, smoothly fighting and defeating the few monsters sent after her. Her main focus was still on the energy in the charm. Stopping abruptly, she knelt on the ground, surrounding herself in more energy, she breathed loudly as the dome covering her expanded and contracted. Suddenly, it shattered.

Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita stood in front of the computer, astounded as it weakly turned fully on. The light dim.

"Odd, Aelita, hurry, you need to get to Lyoko."

As they scurried up the latter, Jeremie started feverishly typing at the computer. Finally being able to virtualize the two, Jeremie sent them into Lyoko, constantly monitoring the power of the computer.

"The tower shouldn't be too far away from you, hurry! Yumi and Ulrich need us."

"We're on it Jeremie," Odd replied reassuringly. Odd's board appeared and he and Aelita took off towards Mina and the tower.

Ulrich and Yumi woke up in the basement of Kadic, still bound together. Struggling against each other, they couldn't seem to break the layers of plastic wrap.

"How is it this hard to rip through plastic?!" Yumi exclaimed, shaking and twisting her already tired body.

"Yumi... Yumi stop!" Ulrich yelled over her loud grunts. He looked around the dark basement and finally found the stairs. "Push against my back and we'll try to stand up, alright?" He heard a sound of agreement as they began the struggle.

Jim and Rosa had torn the school apart, Mr. Delmas had quickly joined them, being possessed by Xana. The children had joined in the gym where they barricaded themselves inside. Chaos broke out among the students as there was no order. As the three staff members quickly made their way to the locked down gym, students scrambled to the doors to keep them out.

Odd shot and destroyed a crab, aiming his arm at the approaching blocks. He got a clear shot, but was distracted by the heavy panting he heard below him and Aelita. Both looking down, they saw Mina running from a megatank. Stopping dead in it's tracks, the large machine opened up and began to charge. Looking behind her, Mina gasped and quickly shot a string of energy from her hand. Wrapping itself around the megatank, it caused the monster from opening. Making a grasping gesture with her hand, the machine was constricted until it exploded. Looking at the two above her, she smiled and waved excitedly. Odd brought the OverBoard down and he and Aelita jumped off.

Jim had separated from his group, going and finding Ulrich and Yumi. Dragging them down the hall, he entered the pool. The two had put up a fight but were clearly no match for this portly man. With one swift movement they were tossed into the cold water. Struggling against each other, they couldn't resurface. After about two minutes, both of them lost consciousness, drifting to the bottom.

"Did you turn the computer back on?" Aelita asked, impressed. Mina nodded, her body seemed limp. Aelita's eyes traveled to the chain on her hip, glowing and flickering and floating beside her.

"I did. It wasn't easy, but I did it." Her voice was forced, tired. Odd's expression went from excitement to worry.

"Mina, you okay?" He asked her carefully. When she didn't respond, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Odd! Aelita! What's taking you so long?" Jeremie called, "Are you at the tower?"

"Not yet," Aelita called, "almost. Odd, Mina, come on."

Mina jerked her shoulder away from Odd and followed the already running pinkette. Odd quickly followed and they were almost to the tower when William stopped in front of Aelita, shoving her back onto the ground. Mina quickly took her place in front of Aelita and fired a large orb of energy at him. Collecting it in his massive weapon, he sent it back at her, tossing her through the air where she swiftly landed on her feet. Moving unusually fast, she tackled William, only to have him disappear in black smoke. Odd helped Aelita to her feet and sent her into the tower.

Mina stumbled getting up, and swayed to one side, only to be caught by Odd. He laughed and stood her upright.

"I really have a knack for knocking girls off their feet, but this is a little ridiculous."

"Odd, shut up." Jeremie said over the microphone, irritated. "I'm almost positive that Yumi and Ulrich are in trouble, neither of them are answering their phones.

The children in the gym were still trying to keep out Rosa and Mr. Delmas. Rosa broke through one of the closed off doors and was grabbing and throwing students, Mr. Delmas was fighting and sending electric currents through the kids.

Aelita quickly disappeared into the tower, lifting up into the air and registering herself with a simple touch of the hand.

"Return to the past, now." Jeremie quickly pressed the enter key. A

As the white light encompassed Lyoko, Mina's charm fell to her side, losing the color. She collapsed at Odd's feet. He bent down to grab her, but was caught in the blinding light.

**Well, there you go! Longer chapter than the others. I hope you liked my Xana attack. Keep looking for updates and feel free to review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay so, I'm really bad at proof reading and editing so I'm really sorry for typos, I just get really excited about posting new chapters.**

Instead of going to the cafeteria, the group eagerly met in Jeremie's room. They sat quietly and waited for Odd. Just as Ulrich dialed his number, Jeremie's door swung open and a flustered blonde walked in, plopping down on Jeremie's bed next to Ulrich and Yumi. He huffed when he saw them all looking at him.

"What?" He grunted. The young man was irritated, to say the least. The group quickly averted their gaze to Jeremie.

"So Odd," he started. Jeremie waited to see if Odd responded. When he reluctantly turned his head, the boy continued. "She just passed out? Are you sure something didn't just happen during the return to the past?" When Odd continued to stare at him blankly, Jeremie pushed forward. "Xana could've triggered something to make you see something else. I mean, she wasn't hit by monsters and there was no scyphozoa. I- well, we think maybe you were just-"

"Did you even try to scan anything, or check on her?" Odd mumbled, looking at his hands in his lap. Yumi put a hand on his shoulder and looked at Jeremie, pleading with her eyes. Sighing, Jeremie spun around in his chair and started feverishly typing.

"Mina?" He said into the computer. No response. Odd inhaled sharply and Yumi grasped Ulrich's hand. "Mina, are you there?" Again, nothing. Jeremie turned to face Odd. Aelita lowered her head, guilty. Walking to Odd, Jeremie placed a reassuring hand on Odd, and made him look at him. "Let's go to the factory and find her." Odd's face instantly lit up. Jumping up from the small bed, he raced out of the room, the others quickly following. As they flew across the bridge and swung down the familiar ropes, grasping them with their calloused hands, they were in the computer room in no time. Jeremie scurried to his chair and began to run a scan, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Well?" Aelita asked, almost as anxious as Odd. She stood behind Jeremie, trying to look at what was going on.

"I don't see anything..." Odd's face remained emotionless. "I can't even find Mina on the grid." Instantly, the stone expression fell. Ulrich put his arm around his best friend's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Odd..." He nodded at his brunette friend and kept his head down.

"Wait!" Jeremie cried, "I see something in the forest sector! It's a huge spike in energy, it could be Mina!" Odd's head shot up and he scampered over to the elevator with the others and they headed for the scanner room.

The four warriors dropped down onto the virtual grass with a loud thud.

"It should be straight ahead. Just be on guard."

The overwing, overbike, and overboard were virtualized in front of them, and they mounted their vehicles. As the four made their way through the forest, they were eerily left alone by Xana's monsters.

"Look!" Yumi said excitedly. The others followed her gaze and gasped when they saw what was ahead.

There they saw Mina quietly sitting against a large tree. Her head was resting in her small hands, she seemed perfectly fine. The five friends let out a huge sigh of relief and casually made their way over to the sitting girl. Noticing them approaching, she smiled weakly and stood up, walking towards the oncoming vehicles. As the warriors jumped down, she made her way over to Aelita, encompassing her in a tight hug.

"Hello!" She cried cheerfully, setting her head on the pinkette's shoulder. Aelita was taken aback by this sudden gesture and carefully placed her arms around her opposite's back. "Oh my," Mina sighed, pulling away; "I haven't felt like this since...well... I've never felt like this, or felt, ever!" She looked around and smiled at every one of them, lingering on Odd who quickly looked away, suddenly embarrassed.

"We're glad you're okay, Mina," Ulrich said. "We thought you were in trouble when you passed out right before the last return to the past." He noticed the softer expression on her face now, she was calmer.

"Oh, that... I have a lot to tell you all."

"Well then, start with that thing," Odd gestured toward the chain on her hip.

With an exasperated sigh, she began the story. Her downloaded memories providing her with a new sense of realization. Mina's small mouth moved quickly, efficiently as the other warriors sat and listened intently, amazed.

Mina was a simulated virus eradication program, Franz made her to protect Aelita and keep Lyoko in check. When Aelita failed to program the basic necessities for her, she fell vulnerable, periodically forgetting what she was created to do. The orb attached to her dress was the pure essence of Lyoko, she new where and when things were going wrong. She could keep Xana from interrupting Lyoko all together, but with her never remembering what she had to do, it was almost completely useless. One day, Aelita had run away from Mina, irritated at her lack of emotion, she transported herself to a different sector. Mina, unsure of how to reach her, wandered through the forest sector aimlessly, trying to find a tower. That's when Xana got her. He sent a scyphozoa after her where she was thrown into the digital sea.

"But a defensive mechanism that was programmed into me created the energy field, protecting me. And now," she paused and looked around at everyone, amazed by the attention. "Now I'm here! With all of you."

"Wow." Jeremie's voice echoed, "so Mina, in a way, you _are_ Lyoko."

"I guess so," she beamed with excitement. "I mean I am a direct link to the core. I was created along with Lyoko, at the same time." She silenced herself, waiting for a reaction. When everyone failed to respond, her face fell a little. Odd quickly moved his body comfortingly next to hers. She smiled at him and laughed quietly. "It feels so good to be talking to other people. Even though I never felt, it was so lonely." Mina casually rested her head on Odd's shoulder, causing him to go completely still, shocked.

"So," Jeremie interrupted, "what was going on when Xana was attacking? He cut the power but Lyoko was still accessible."

"Well, I had to keep the energy flowing. It cost me a lot of energy, and I'm still very weak, but I had to. If Lyoko dies, I do too, and there's so much that needs to be done before that can happen."

"That's never going to happen, Mina." Aelita said, concerned. Placing a small hand on her opposite, she smiled, giving her knee a squeeze. Mina gently placed her hand on Aelita's, feeling nothing but positive energy for once.

"I think this would be a good time to tell you all. I have an announcement to make." The five looked up towards Jeremie's voice, curious.

"What is it?" Ulrich asked, the suspense killing him and the rest of the friends.

"Well," he paused for dramatic effect.

"Jeremie!" Yumi yelled, clearly not in the mood for games. "Just tell us already, will you?"

"Okay, okay. I've been spending a lot of time, copying and advancing the code that we used to materialize Aelita, and I finally got it so it will work on Mina. I had to rearrange some data and codes to give her a body and everything, since she's just a virtual being; but it's all ready to bring her into our world."

Mina looked confused, and the group smiled with complete excitement.

"You're the greatest, Einstein!"

"Wait, what does this mean?" She asked Odd, lifting her head off his shoulder.

"It means you're able to come back to Earth with us!" The small boy tightly hugged the virtual guardian, causing her to quietly gasp. He pulled away to see a look of utter disbelief on the small girl's face.

"But what about Lyoko? This world needs me..." She said quietly, never breaking eye contact with Odd. Yumi came over to her and gave her a serious look.

"Mina, if you're on Earth, we're going to shut down the supercomputer. You'll never have to worry about Lyoko."

Mina whimpered and wrapped her arms around herself.

"I don't know," she mumbled. "Can I think about it?"

"Why don't you at least visit Earth for a couple of days, see how you feel." Ulrich suggested with a reassuring smile towards everyone. Lifting her face from the comfort off Odd, she reluctantly nodded.

"Alright Mina, head for the tower, I'll start the program."

She slowly walked towards the still tower, taking tiny steps, stalling. Mina turned around and faced her friends before disappearing into the walls. The platform lit up before her and lifted her halfway into the air before a bright light surrounded her. She looked down at her disappearing form and whimpered slightly. The orb attached to her dressed flickered red for a moment, then fell off, plummeting to the glowing platform beneath her. She let out a small shriek of panic, then her world went black.

Back in the scanner room, the children waited for the newest member of the group. Odd was standing closest to the scanner, about ready to jump out of his skin. Ulrich laughed at Odd's excessive excitement over a silly crush, and Aelita and Yumi quietly stood next to each other, waiting. The sound of the scanner running buzzed loud and strong. Aelita gasped as the scanner's doors quickly slid open, the group crowded around the machine and looked at what was materialized before them.


	7. Chapter 7

**I've been trying to keep it as authentic as possibly, but as of now everyone is pretty much OOC. It just gives me more creative freedom, ya know?**

A pair of large, light brown eyes opened slowly, fluttering and squinting in the bright light. Small hands spread out onto the scanner's floor. Uncurling from the limp ball she was in, Mina lifted her head and weakly pushed against the floor, rising. Gasps from above her caused her to slam herself against the back of the scanner, whimpering. Thin arms reached in after her, coaxing her into them. Odd gently pulled the frightened girl out, holding on to her tightly.

Doe eyes, darted around the room, she was stunned. She knew it was them, she was just in complete and utter shock. Taking a few deep breaths, she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, everything was clear to her. Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita stared at her, concerned. Odd was behind her, keeping his arms around her for support.

"Mina," Yumi said, extending an arm out to touch her shoulder, "it's us, you know us."

"Yes, I do." A smile crept across her face and she almost lept from Odd's grasp to wrap her arms around the three friends in front of her. "You are all here! In person!" Her face lit up as she grinned, feeling the warmth of the people who set her free.

The elevator doors slid open and Jeremie briskly walked into the room, standing next to Odd.

"Hello, Mina."

"Jeremie? Oh Jeremie!" Spinning around to race the pair of blondes, she fell into them, giggling quietly. "You are not what I pictured." As she stood back to look at everyone, her smile never faltered.

"Now just stay still, Mina." Aelita said happily, "let us get a look at you."

Mina stood in the center of the group and they all scanned their eyes down her young form. She was dressed in dark gray jeans, much like Yumi's. She wore a large, cream colored sweater, and dark gray moccasins with teal seams. Mina was the exact height as Aelita, and their hair styles were similar, except she had small bangs, the color was also darker than on Lyoko.

Odd immediately turned away, blushing, and Jeremie felt his cheeks start to burn too. The youngest male failed to inform the group about his time spent with Mina. After her memories and emotions were programmed, she spent all her time thanking and appreciating Jeremie. Pretty much stroking his ego. She had listened to him after a rough day, he listened to her about progress on Lyoko. Even though he didn't know about her actually being Lyoko, he learned a lot from her. She had tried to go to Sector Five to try to find any scraps of Franz's genetic coding, but was unsuccessful. Mina spent her days just wandering around Lyoko. She had a strange power programmed into her, since she destroyed viruses, she could simply focus on the monsters, and they would just disappear into a flurry of pixels. She had energy fields, much like Aelita's, except hers were advanced, and she was able to mold the raw energy. That's also how she creates her method of transportation, a moldable slab of pure energy, compacted into a thin solid.

Yumi quickly interrupted Jeremie's guilty thoughts.

"Mina, we have so many questions for you. How old are you? Are you supposed to be related to Aelita? Do you consider Franz your father? On Lyoko, I saw the monsters just disappear, was that you? How are you-" Ulrich grasped her arm, immediately silencing her.

"Oh my. Well, I was designed as a 15 year old companion for Aelita, we're not sisters. Franz is not my father, just a creator. Jeremie, you didn't tell them about my abilities?" She looked confused, so did the others as they turned towards him.

"You've been talking to her? Why didn't you tell us?" Aelita questioned, slightly irritated.

"I uh, well, I was going to wait for her to tell you all this herself."

"Jeremie, you never said that... Is something going on?" Mina looked between the kids, as they glared at Jeremie.

"Mina..." Odd lightly took the small girl's arm, "Let's go wait outside, Ulrich and I will show you what you've been missing!" He and Ulrich grinned and pulled Mina into the elevator.

"Wait up, I'm coming too." Yumi ran through the already closing doors. Once inside, they all looked at each other, confused, but relieved to be out of there.

"I don't understand, did I do something wrong?" Mina asked, unsure of how to react. Odd put a reassuring arm around her shoulders and shook his head with a smile.

"Aelita and Jeremie just need to discuss some... things." the young brunette looked at him, content with his answer and completely ignorant to what was actually going on.

Aelita was furious, Jeremie would only hide this if he was guilty of something, right? Her cheeks were tinted pink with anger. Staring into his averted gaze, she didn't know where to start. How dare he keep this from her, from the rest of the group.

"Jeremie Belbois," she began, "you've got a lot of explaining to do."

Meanwhile, the four friends were outside the factory, hanging out on the large bridge. Odd was leaning against the guard rail, while Mina quickly pranced around, exploring her new surroundings. Ulrich and Yumi watched the new member of their new group, laughing as she jumped back in fear when she saw a bird.

Tilting her head, Mina looked over at Ulrich.

"These creatures are so strange, and they're everywhere?"

"Yeah, there are all different kinds, too."

"Hm. Curious."

When she seemed to be satisfied with her exploration, she stood next to Odd, sliding a hand up his thin arm, and squeezing lightly. He gave her a strange look and laughed slightly, unsure of how to react.

"Mina, what are you doing?" Odd pulled his arm away, just to have it be grabbed again by the young girl.

"Everything is just so different... Are you sure I'll adapt comfortably?"

"Yeah, Aelita did."

"Odd, Aelita actually lived on Earth, Mina's not even really human."

"Shut up, Ulrich, Mina's human now, and that's all that matters." Protectively grasping her hand, Odd gave it a comforting squeeze and smiled at her. Mina smiled back, ignoring the growing lump in her throat.

"Where uh, is she going to live?" Ulrich asked, embarrassed. "Did Jeremie figure any of this out? Since they've been talking-"

A loud "Hmph!" Was heard and the four teens stood completely still as a furious Aelita stormed out of the factory, halfway across the bridge, and disappeared into the sewer. Looking at each other, the snickered to themselves, but went silent as Jeremie slumped out.

"Hey Einstein, what was that about?" Ulrich and Odd made their way over to the distraught blonde while Yumi hung back with Mina. Grabbing Yumi's hand, Mina pulled the older girl with her to the sewer, where she gracefully jumped down and landed on her feet, perfectly balanced. She took off running towards the retreating pinkette.

"Mina, wait!" With a loud sigh, Yumi chased after Mina and Aelita, leaving the three puzzled boys.

"Aelita!" Mina called as she finally caught up to her friend. She grasped her tiny hand in her own and roughly pulled her back into her own small frame. Sinking down to the dirty sewer floor, Mina held Aelita as she cried and yelled at her and curled up tighter into a small heap of sadness.

Yumi ran up to the distraught Mina and upset Aelita and kneeled down next to both of them, placing a hand on Mina's shoulder and Aelita's soft, pink hair. She pet Aelita's head and gave Mina a confused look. She just shrugged.

"Mina?" They all turned to see Odd running towards them. He stopped when he saw poor Aelita and tears running down her soft cheeks. "Oh Aelita..." She stood up and wiped her face. Mina, standing protectively next to her, looked at Odd with sad eyes. The young, confused boy joined his friends as they made their way back to Kadic.

After they three put their friend in her room, they slowly walked through the halls of the school, hoping to stop at Odd's room so he could feed Kiwi. The small dog immediately started to bark at the friends when they entered the room, causing Mina to hide behind Odd.

"You fight monsters every day on Lyoko and you're afraid of my sweet diggity dog?" Odd asked Mina while giving Kiwi his food.

"Eh.. What is a Diggity Dog?" Yumi's face turned red and she burst out laughing at Mina's question. Odd joined her causing Mina to blush feverishly.

Odd stifled his laughter and held Mina's hand leading her over and letting her sit on Ulrich's bed next to him. Yumi gave him a look and raised one eyebrow. Just as she was about to interrupt the awkward moment, her phone buzzed, a text from Ulrich.

"I uh, gotta go." She quickly walked out of the room, down the hall, and ran back towards to factory to meet Ulrich.

"Sorry this is what you have to deal with your first day here."

"It's about me, isn't it? That's why Aelita was saying it was my fault..."

"No, Mina, Einstein's just-"

"Einstein? Who is-"

"Jeremie, Jeremie is really smart, but when it comes to girls, he's really dumb. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"Good. Did Jeremie tell you where you were going to stay while you were visiting?" His voice softly asked her. When she shook her head, he frowned. "I'm sure Yumi's parents will let you stay with them."

"Odd, you're paying so much more attention to me than the others. Is there a reason?"

"Uh, um. What are you talking about?" His cheeks grew red and he cleared his throat nervously. Odd dropped Mina's hand onto her lap and shook his head clear.

"Well you keep holding my hand, and being very close to me, like," Mina moved until she was inches away from him. "About this close. Why? Do all people do this to knew friends? The others didn't. I just don't understand."

"Um, well uh, I just."

"Odd! Where have you been! You said you were going to meet me in the gym so we could talk!"

Odd and Mina turned around to the open door. Odd's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Sam?"

**Oooh didn't see that coming did you? I'm gonna let you guys know that I'll be skipping about two months of time soon. Just so the story can near it's finish. Maybe some of my lovely viewers can reivew? :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**The italics are the flashback, and a significant amount of time has past since the conversation, like three weeks.**

_Odd and Sam stood in the hallway. As he quietly shut the door behind him, he looked at the taller girl in front of him._

_"__Sam, I'm sorry. I completely forgot you were going to be here today."_

_"__I know. What the hell, Odd"_

_"__A lot has been happening lately, alright?"_

_"__Who's that in your room? Is she your girlfriend? And don't lie to me."_

_"__Mina? No... no she's just a new girl, a new friend."_

_"__Listen Odd, she's not for you, I can already tell. She doesn't seem real."_

_"__Wh- what do you mean?!" He gulped, nervous._

_"__I can tell by looking at her, I get a bad feeling, you know? Like she won't be real about things, immature. Understand?" _

_"__Yeah, I do."_

_"__So listen, when you wanna talk about us. Give me a call, alright? Because I can be real with you."_

_"__Yeah, alright." Walking back in his room, he's greeted with a teary-eyed Mina. "Oh no... what did you hear?" _

_"__That I'm still not real." The lump in Mina's throat from earlier had come back and burst, leaking out of her eyes. She touched her damp cheeks and looked at Odd. "What is this?"_

_"__You're crying." He came towards her slowly, and reached out, wiping the water from her cheeks. "Mina, I'm sorry."_

_"__I'm never going to be a real person. I'll always be a computer program. I can't function properly here." She thought about it more and more. She couldn't ever be real. She couldn't adapt because she didn't know how._

_"__It'll just take time."_

_"__I'm going to be stuck like this forever, aren't I? Just an artificial intelligence in a girl's body?"_

_"__No... I, um. Mina, I think you should leave, I really need to think about some things." He watched as tears continued to stream down her face. She exited the room, whimpering._

_Odd sat on his bed, with his head in his hands. He liked Mina. But the thought of them together was frustrating, she couldn't learn human tendencies, or if she did, it would take a long time. What was he thinking? She had basic feelings, but she didn't know when to react, or how. She didn't even know what crying was. _

_But he felt drawn to her. He wanted to take her small hand and show her the things she needed to know. He wanted to protect her because she needed it, for now. On Lyoko, she was the strongest fighter. But here? She was the weakest link. He wanted to hold her when she was scared and tell her that he was there to help her. He wanted to be whatever she needed, because he wanted her to feel the most comfortable here, so she would stay. With him._

_It's not even like Sam cared about him. Even though she didn't remember it, she almost got him expelled. Sam cared about Sam, and no one else. She always called the shots and he just followed her around like a lost puppy. He wanted to be the one to guide her around, do things he'd like. Never with Sam. It'll never be with Sam._

_"__I'll never be with Sam."_

_Grunting, he fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep. _

Mina stayed on Earth when the kids said she could enroll in school. Skeptical at first, they said that if she ever wanted to back out and just go back to Lyoko, they'd cover for her, cancel her enrollment. Printing out more counterfeit information was difficult, as the group made Mina promise to act like she didn't know anyone at the school when she arrived in Principal Delmas' office, so there was no suspicion raised about another relative of the group joining the school. Jeremie, masking his voice had called ahead to enroll her, informing the principal they her parents were unable to afford plane tickets so they just sent her alone. She roomed by herself, a few doors down from Aelita.

The discussion between Odd and Sam and Mina was never spoken of after that day. Odd seemed more distant towards everyone after that talk. When Mina finally told Yumi, she decided to sit Mina down one day and attempt to explain to her the complex mind that is human nature.

They must have been talking for hours about how situations play out and how feelings work and interact with one another. For a few days that's all they talked about, human tendencies and emotions, love, hate, anger, happiness (which Mina was very good at being.) Pretty much the basics for the time being. Soon she was functioning rather normally, and seemed to fit in better with the kids at Kadic.

The group wanted to shut Xana down for good, but Mina insisted on keeping the super computer on for a while longer, just so she could think about her final decision.

"Ulrich, pick up the phone!" Jeremie yelled as he made his way to the lunch room. Something wasn't right, he could feel it. "Sissi," the blonde boy started as he grasped her arm, "have you seen Ulrich or Yumi?"

"Uh, one, don't touch me, two, they were headed towards the dorms. Aw, little boy genius feeling left out?"

"Not in the mood." He stormed off towards his room.

Jeremie quickly walked to his room where he heard a loud crash coming from the other side of the door. Bursting through the door, he was met by Yumi and Aelita, quite obviously possessed by Xana.

"Guys-" He was hit by something and lost consciousness.

Ulrich walked through the halls of Kadic Academy. He couldn't find any of his friends. Trying Odd again on his cell, he sighed with frustration when there was no answer. When he saw Jeremie's door slightly open, he stepped in, gasping in surprise when he tripped over the boy lying on the ground.

"Jeremie?!" Kneeling down, he grabbed the scrawny shoulders of his friend and shook him lightly. "Jeremie, wake up!" When he didn't rouse, Ulrich became slightly frantic. His attention was directed towards the flashing Xana sign on Jeremie's computer. "Oh no, no not now!" Running from Jeremie's room, Ulrich saw Odd disappear into the basement.. "Odd?" Ulrich said out loud.

When the blonde didn't respond or even acknowledge him, Ulrich raced after him. As he made it to the door, Aelita came running towards him.

"Ulrich, Yumi's in trouble, I think it's Xana." She seemed frantic as she tugged on his arm. "You have to hurry!"

"But Aelita Odd is-"

"Yumi needs you!" The pinkette dashed off leaving Ulrich with two choices: follow Aelita or go see why Odd was in the basement. Looking at the basement door with a groan, Ulrich chased after his panicked friend. As she led him into Yumi's room, the door shut behind him. He turned around quickly to come face to face with Yumi.

"Yumi? I thought you were in trouble..." Petite hands were firmly placed on his shoulders as he was shoved to the ground. "What is going on?" His brown eyes went wide when he saw the Xana sign flicker across both of their eyes. A low grunt came from Yumi as her hand came down to hit Ulrich. Rolling away from the both of them, the young boy darted out of the room and back to the basement. "Odd?" He called down the stairs. He heard a soft whimper coming from the bottom of the stairs.

As the young boy slowly walked down the dark stairs, the quiet whimpers and groans became louder. Heavy thuds were heard as he now reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Odd," he heard someone choke out, "please, you have to try to fight Xana!"

"Mina?" Ulrich yelled through the darkness. Finally finding the light switch, he quickly flicked it on, and cringed at what he saw.

Mina was curled up into a defensive ball, shaking slightly. Her black t-shirt was ripped slightly at the bottom, and her teal pajama pants were torn up the left leg. She wasn't wearing any shoes or any of the makeup she had become used to wearing. It looked like she was pulled straight out of bed. Through the tears on her pant leg, Ulrich could clearly see three large bruises. She had a black eye and her lip was swollen.

"Ulrich, where are the others? Xana has Odd." She looked up from her cowering position and was picked up and thrown across the room. As Ulrich raced across the cold floor, he threw himself at the possessed Odd, knocking him to the ground. Holding down his best friend, Ulrich struggled but managed to hold him down successfully for a short time.

"Mina, Aelita and Yumi are also under Xana's control, you have to get to Lyoko!"

"But where's Jeremie?" She was standing now, limping towards the stairs.

"He was unconscious in his room, just go to the factory, you can virtualize yourself, right?"

"I think so. Are you okay by yourself?"

"I'm gonna have to be." Odd threw Ulrich off of him and walked menacingly towards him. "You have to go, now."

Mina lingered for a moment then with a small sigh, she lept up the stairs as fast as she could. As she flew out of the basement, she ran right into Jim.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" He tilted her chin up to look at her eye. "Who did this?"

"Not now, Jim, I have to go!" She pushed him aside as best as she could and continued down the hall.

"Get back here!" He chased after her, rather slowly. Soon he gave up, out of breath as they reached the main door of the school. The small girl limped through the forest and to the sewer, after receiving a few concerned looks from the small amount of students that saw her. Grunting with pain as she dropped down, she decided to ignore the pain as best as she could and sprint through the sewers.

"Jeremie?" She asked, surprised to see the blonde sitting in his chair at the computer. "I thought you were in your room, I thought they got you."

"I made it here fine, I'm fine, I've been trying to call you guys. Where's Odd and Ulrich? And what happened to you?"

"Odd's been taken by Xana, Ulrich stayed behind so I could get here."

"So Odd..."

"Yes, he did this to me, well, Xana did."

"Right. Well, you should get to the scanners ASAP. You're all alone on this one, you up for a challenge?"

"I don't have a choice." She raced to the elevator and quickly stepped inside the scanner, leaning against the side, breathing heavily.

"Scanner, Mina. Transfer. Virtualization." As her tag showed up on his computer screen, he watched intently. "I'll help you out as best as I can, alright? The tower is south of where you are right now."

"Okay." Energy lighting up beneath her, her teal blue energy board visualized under her and lifted her into the air. As Mina raced through the air, she was surprised when a laser whizzed past her face. "Jeremie, what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Something just fired at me, I thought you were going to help!"

"Mina, I can't see anything on the screen, there aren't any monsters shown."

"Great..." The small orb dangling off her lifted into the air and began to glow. A large, transparent wall of energy surrounded her, blocking off the continuing laser blasts coming at her. Firing towards the directions of the blasts, the sound of a defeated monster echoed through the air. The charm flickered red, and the energy field shattered, startling her.

"What's happening?"

"The charm isn't responding to me anymore. This is strange."

"Just hurry and get to the tower, I'll bring you in and we'll scan." A sudden beeping came from Jeremie's computer screen, a wave of twenty or so monsters were heading straight towards Mina. They were led by who else? "Uh, Mina, you need to hurry, you've got a lot of company."

"What are you..." She looked down to see a cloud of smoke directly under her. "Oh no. William?" Continuing to speed up on her disc, the charm flickered red again and it began to disappear under her. "Jeremie, I need a vehicle!" Crying out, she fell through the air, only to be caught by the Overboard. "You're a life saver."

William jumped higher, closer and continued to fly through the air, passing her and lingering around the activated tower. Eight tarantula's accompanied him and took their offensive stance.

"Jeremie..."

"I know, you can do this, just focus, like the first time you met us."

"But the charm might not work, and I don't stand a chance if it doesn't."

"You're Lyoko, you're more powerful than all these monsters, even Xana."

"Here goes nothing." The young warrior lept off of the purple board and landed gracefully on the hard ground. Looking behind her, she saw the rest of the flood of monsters. Now focusing all her attention on the monsters directly ahead of her, she stared blankly and focused. The charm struggled but flickered with blue light. The tarantula's started to flicker then completely disappear. "Jeremie, I did it!"

"Great, now get to the tower." Just as the young boy said that, she was struck by four lasers, each sending her forward then to the ground harshly. "Mina! You have fifteen life points left. You have to get to the tower!" She slowly lifted her head, and was grabbed and thrown by William.

Yumi and Aelita had found Odd and Ulrich struggling in the basement. With three against one, Ulrich knew he couldn't stand a chance. As Aelita delivered aggressive punches to his stomach, Odd threw him onto the stairs where Yumi waited to kick him repeatedly. Groaning, he rolled off the stairs onto the hard, concrete floor. Attempting to stand up, he was held down by three bodies. His best friend, his girlfriend, and his fellow warrior. As they crept down closer to him, he let out a loud yell.

"Mina! Are you alright?"

"I think so." Lifting her small frame up, she was brought back down by William. Allowing her charm to flicker again to the bright teal blue light, she disappeared under him and soared through the air as a mass of energy, straight into the tower. Letting out a sigh of relief, she was lifted into the air, surrounded by a white light.

"You did it. You were fantastic." He smiled to himself as she told him she deactivated the tower. "Return to the past, now."

"Guys, please!" Ulrich screamed. Suddenly, the three friends collapsed around him and they were wrapped up in the blinding light.

As the past was grabbing the virtual world, William walked towards the tower, smirking to himself. He bent down to pick up exactly what he was looking for: Mina's charm.

**Hoped you liked this! Reviews are always appreciated.**


	9. Chapter 9

Jeremie raced to Ulrich and Odd's room, having already called Yumi and Aelita. He pounded on the door roughly until finally a groggy Ulrich opened the door. The brunette's arm was grabbed and pulled out the door into the hallways.

"Something went wrong."

"What?"

"Wake up Odd and come with me. Hurry." His voice was strained, hurt. He stared intently at Ulrich and watched as the confused boy retreated into his room. A few groans and smacks later Odd and Ulrich slumped out of their room and ran after their friend. Jeremie had stopped outside of Mina's where Yumi and Aelita waited.

"Jeremie," Yumi started, confused. "What's going on?"

"Just... look." He opened the door to Mina's room and the four friends gasped at what they saw. Mina was spread out on her bed, breathing heavily. Her face was red and swollen and she had a black eye. Her lip was puffy and bleeding. As she groaned, Jeremie walked to her bed and lifted up her pant leg. Ulrich walked up next to Jeremie, eyes wide. The same bruises that he saw on her yesterday were still there. The return to the past didn't work on her.

"What happened to her..." Aelita mumbled as she turned away, unable to stand the sight.

"Odd... do you remember doing this?" he turned towards his best friend.

"What? I didn't do that, no way."

"You were all possessed by Xana except for Ulrich, you all are aware of that, right?" The group nodded at Jeremie. "Well Ulrich went to the basement when he saw Odd go. When he got downstairs... Odd um, was..."

"Odd," Ulrich interrupted, "you were beating the crap out of Mina." He looked at the pain that flashed across Odd's face.

"No, there's no way... I couldn't have."

"I can't believe this. We have to take her to the infirmary!" Yumi quickly walked into the room and lifted Mina up as gently as she could. A loud groan escaped her tiny lips. "No, I can't do this." She turned around, holding a fist up to her mouth. Ulrich wrapped an arm around her and led her out of the room, taking Aelita with him.

"Odd, can you uh-" holding a hand up to silence his friend, Odd walked to the side of her bed and slid his arms underneath her. Gingerly lifting her petite body off of the warm blankets, she whimpered and tears began to slide down her cheeks. Avoiding her distant gaze, he carefully carried her all the way to the infirmary. Passing students gasped, others ignored them, some turned in the complete opposite direction. But no one said anything. Odd felt tears prick at his eyes.

"Oh my," the nurse exclaimed as the two boys brought Mina into the small infirmary. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Odd mumbled as he set her down on the neat bed. "I don't know." Without looking at anyone, he trailed out of the room with his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. He decided to skip classes for the day. Leaning against the large bridge leading to the factory, he quickly wiped away the tears falling down his face. The thought of him ever hurting one of his friends, especially Mina made him cringe and sink to the ground.

With his head down, he heard someone sit down next to him. Ulrich and Odd sat on the bridge in silence, the only sound coming from Odd's loud sobbing.

In Yumi's history class, she overheard to girls talking. She completely tuned out the lesson and leaned in closer to hear.

"Did you hear about what happened to that Mina girl?"

"Yeah, who do you think did it?"

"I don't know, but it creeps me out that someone's capable of doing that to a young girl."

"You don't think Odd did it, do you?"

"Well he was the one carrying her, I don't think he's make it that obvious, he's not that dumb."

"Actually," Yumi was leaning in so her head was in between the two; "She fell down the basement stairs."

"What?"

"She's new, she didn't know the door lead to stairs. She just walked right off of them. Poor thing. Odd and Jeremie saw her fall and they brought her to the infirmary. Nobody beat her up." With the poorly thought out story pouring from the pale girl's mouth, she became more and more nervous. But when the two girls let out a synchronized "Oh!" and seemed to believe her, she relaxed.

When class was over, she quickly made her way to the lunch room. Looking around the large room, she caught sight of pink hair. Smiling, she made her way over to the table where Aelita and Jeremie sat, silently.

"Yumi!" Aelita looked up and smiled, relieved that the uncomfortable silence was broken. "Have you seen Ulrich or Odd?"

"No, Ulrich ran off to check on Odd after he didn't show up for gym, I have no idea where they went though." Just as those words escaped from her mouth, her phone beeped along with everyone else's. Jeremie's laptop in his back next to him started to beep as well. As they all looked at their phones, a red Xana sign flashed across the screens.

"Another attack?" Aelita asked.

"I hope not, we're not prepared for this at all." Jeremie opened his laptop and saw the same flashing sign. "I think we should go to the factory." Nodding, the three friends took off to the sewers.

"Mina?"The young blonde boy took her hand with both of his. Large eyes fluttered open and squinted against the bright light. Mina had been in the nurse's office all day sleeping. After Odd had composed himself, he let Ulrich off at their room and went to visit her.

"Oh, hi," she smiled weakly, her lip less swollen than before. Her eye was still blackened, and swollen. She sat up slightly, grimacing as she did. "How are you?"

"I'm uh, okay. How are you?"

"My body aches, but I'm fine."

"Did the nurse tell you how long you were going to be here?" He tried to keep the conversation going, maybe just sneak in that he was so incredibly sorry for everything that he did to her.

"She said just one more day, so maybe my bruises can heal a little more." Mina's tiny hand curled tighter around Odd's. Leaning back, she closed her eyes. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"No... no I'm not sure. How aren't you furious with me? Mina, I beat you, I gave you these bruises and you haven't said anything about it."

Squeezing Odd's hand, she looked at him. "That could've never been you, it was Xana. It's always Xana." Mina paused and sighed. Looking up at Odd, she said quietly, "You have to get me out of here, though. There's a reason why the return didn't work on me. I have to get to Lyoko."

"I can't just waltz out of here with you, we'll get caught."

"Your brilliant mind can come up with some kind of plan, I'm sure of it." A hand lightly touched the young boy's cheek.

"This doesn't look good." Jeremie said to the pair behind him.

"What do you see?" Aelita asked, "Should we go in?"

"I'm not sure. It looks like there's a huge bug in the entire system. Wha- What!?"

"Jeremie," Yumi started, "what is it?"

"The sectors are disappearing!"

"What?!" The two girls said in unison.

"All of Lyoko is just... vanishing."

**Reviews are forever appreciated :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I hated where I was going with chapters 10 and 11 so I deleted them. This is just a new ending for chapter 10.**

Odd held onto Mina's arm as the elevator reached the scanner room. Her eyes were tired and she was slouched against the back wall. As the large doors opened she stumbled in, Odd quickly walking next to her. The small girl stepped into the scanner.

"Jeremie, we're here, and we're ready to go."

"Odd? Who's we?"

"Me and Mina."

"How'd you get her out of the school?"

"Jeremie," Mina interrupted, "please, we're ready." She looked at Odd and smiled. As the blonde boy walked into the yellow scanner, the doors closed."

"Alright, I just sent in Yumi and Aelita. Scanner, Odd, scanner, Mina." The whir of the scanners started up and Mina straightened her sore body a bit. "Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Mina. Virtualization."

"Mina!" Aelita yelled as she and Yumi rode over in the overwing. The two fell onto Odd's overboard. "What happened to your outfit?" Mina looked down, confused. Her clothes were different. Her body suit had changed from a light gray solid fabric, to dark gray fabric wrapping her body up to her neck. A teal sleeveless top that reached just above her waste was the same wrapped texture clung to her form. Wearing similar pants to Aelita's, (except gray) she was also not wearing shoes, just wrapped fabric, like Aelita. Odd and Yumi looked the girl up and down. Odd's eyes lingered on the small teal face tattoos the girl had, six pointed tattoos, two coming from the top of her head, two from the side, and two from the bottom.

"How did this happen?" Mina asked, perplexed. "Jeremie, did you do something?"

"No, this wasn't me, we'll figure that out later. How's Lyoko?"

"I can't see anything," Yumi responded, discouraged. Mina rode up next to her, now riding on her own energy board.

"They're in Sector Five." Mina said softly, and she took off, causing the others to follow.

"Who is? How am I supposed to transport you when there's nowhere to go?"

"Leave that to me, alright?" The brunette smiled and she raced ahead. Abruptly stopping, the others were soon next to her. She looked around for a moment, and closed her eyes. As her small body began to radiate a soft white light, they group was encompassed in a ball of energy and taken directly to Sector Five.

"How did you do that?" Jeremie asked, astounded.

"I have very advanced abilities. But apparently, now Xana does too."

"How did this happen?" Aelita asked, as they began to run through the open passage.

"Well," Mina felt her sides. "Someone must've taken my charm. It's the only thing that harnesses that kind of power." As they reached the elevator, Mina told the group they were to go to the core; "That's where William most likely is." And she was right. Surrounded by mantas and creepers sitting on the ledges, William floated weightlessly above the core, a read mist surrounding him.

"What's going on?" Yumi asked loudly, the four looked up at William. They could see a white light coming from the large orb. She looked over to Mina, but she was gone.

"Wait" The young geisha heard Odd yell. He was racing towards Mina who was soaring towards William, dodging the attacks by the mantas. As Yumi and Aelita followed, they both separated to help eliminate some of the monsters.

"Mina, can't you make them just disappear? Like before?" Jeremie asked.

"No, William has the charm, my powers are limited."

"Laser arrow!" Odd yelled as he leaped into the air, shooting and destroying two mantas. Back flipping onto a third one, he drove his claws into it's back.

"Yumi, help!" Aelita called out, she was hit by a creeper. Shooting an energy field, she hit it, but nothing happened. The creeper moved forward towards her, until she reached the edge of the platform. As Yumi flew over, her overwing was shot down by a manta. As she fell, she was caught by Odd's monsters. She jumped off onto one of the platforms, and quickly started making her way to Aelita.

Mina was about to get to William, when he disappeared. Confused, she heard a grunt behind her. William grabbed her small waist and threw her off the board. A large red cloud of smoke formed in his large hand. Throwing it towards her falling form, it encompassed her. He heard a small shriek coming from his left. Throwing the same ball of smoke towards Aelita, he laughed menacingly. Aelita closed her eyes and waved her hand over the band on her arm. Just as her wings sprouted, the cloud hit her. The wings shattered. The two girls continued to fall into the darkness of Sector Five, where they were grabbed by two scyphozoas.

"Mina, Aelita! Odd, where are you?" Jeremie yelled, "Yumi?"

"We're coming Jeremie." Yumi jumped down a few platforms, then dove over the edge towards the girls. They were wrapped up in the scyphozoas' tentacles. The red mist around them was fainter, now that the creatures had them. Whatever information they needed, they were getting, and fast. As Yumi flew downwards towards her friends, she felt something land on her. William had landed on her back. Throwing himself, and her to nearby ledges, he threw her upwards, where she was caught by a manta and was flown upwards, away from Aelita and Mina.

"Oh no, Odd?" Jeremie watched helplessly. Dialing Ulrich, he informed him that he needed him, and Ulrich ran out of the lunch room to meet them. "Odd!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, Einstein! Laser arrow!" He had been booted off the manta and was running on all fours down the long path.

"You have to go faster, the scyphozoa is taking Aelita's memory!"

"What about Mina?"

"I don't know what they're trying to get... ah, oh wait! Mina holds the rest of the essence of Lyoko that her charm doesn't have, they're taking that!"

Odd picked up speed, panting. Looking up, he saw Yumi throw her fans at William, and being devirtualized. She fell quickly past him as the rest of her virtual body disappeared into pixels. "How much time do I have?"

"Less than five minutes, Ulrich is on his way, you-" A large red exclamation point appeared on Jeremie's monitor. "Oh no!"

"What now!?"

"Xana's locked me from your stats, I have no control over materializing vehicles, or your extra arrows."

"Damn it. How many do I have left?"

"Three, so-"

"Laser arrow!" Odd destroyed a creeper in front of him, then shot an arrow at the descending William.

"One."

Ulrich ran through the schoolyard, panting loudly. As he whizzed past Jim, the large man smiled.

"Alright Stern! Working outside of PE! I did a lot of overtime myself when I was a personal trainer."

"You were a personal trainer?" A young student asked him.

"Oh uh, yes. But I'd rather not talk about it."

"Odd, where are you?" Jeremie yelled through the microphone. The progress bar for the girls were reaching dangerously low numbers. He had no more than two minutes left before they were finished.

"I'm a little busy Einstein, William won't get off my back."

"Try to shake him, you have no time left!"

Odd turned away from his enemy and raced towards the girls. "I'll be right there, I'm so close." He finally made it to his two friends. They were on opposite sides of the round pit.

"Shoot them free!" Jeremie yelled frantically, "they're both at less than six percent, no, three, Odd!"

"I only have one arrow!" He looked between the two.

"I'm still locked out, Xana set this as a huge trap for us. Odd, you have to save at least one of them!"

"You can't expect me to pick!" He watched the large monsters suck the lives out of his good friend, and the girl he felt an overwhelming connection to. Jeremie was feverishly typing away at his computer, trying to unlock the system.

"Odd!" Was all the blonde boy could cry as he hit the enter key one last time, the hum of the elevators caused him to turn around.

"Jeremie," Odd asked quickly, "how much time?" When there was no response, he grew worried. Still aiming between his two friends, he began to panic even more. Closing his eyes, he aimed. A loud but all too familiar cry. It was Ulrich. As his best friend flew through the air, and sliced through the tentacles holding Mina, Odd didn't hesitate to shoot Aelita free.

Jeremie let out a large sigh of relief, Yumi rested a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. He had unlocked the computer and was able to virtualize Ulrich, just in time. Odd fell backwards onto the ledge and let out a huge sigh. Aelita hovered over him with a look of happiness. Looking across the way, she saw Ulrich grasping Mina's arm and pulling her up. The blonde boy felt a something growing in his stomach. Jealousy.

Mina looked up towards the core where William was consuming the rest of Lyoko's power. Grunting softly, she mounted her energy board and flew upwards towards her foe. Aelita flew after her and Jeremie re-virtualized Odd's board and gave Ulrich his overbike. As the friends headed upwards, they were silent. Mina got to him first, jumping off her board and landing behind William, having created a ledge for her to stand on, she grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him away from the core.

The three watched as Mina's orb started returning energy to the core. Mina had pinned William down, in an entranced state. Her small hands held the struggling boy down with greater force that even she didn't know she had. A white mist surrounding the core reached out and touched her, surrounding her, fueling her. With a low grunt, she encompassed William in the light too. Taking her hands off him, he was motionless. Her slender fingers reached down and snatched what belonged to her. As she turned away from William, the mist disappeared. He stood up and started towards her, but was grabbed by Aelita. As he struggled, Ulrich tried to attack but missed when he turned into the black smoke.

"Alright," Jeremie said quickly. "That's more than enough." Mina's stone expression switch to the softer one everyone was used to. She turned around and smiled at her friends, and watched as Aelita was materialized, then Ulrich and Odd, and she was last.

As she squinted at the bright lights appearing in front of her, she was greeted by the arms of Aelita, pulling her out into the circle of her friends. They were all smiling, happy they were both okay.

"Guys, let's get back to school, someone must've wondered where we went." Nodding in agreement, they all walked slowly back towards Kadic. As Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie headed off towards the main door, Yumi walked off to the lunch room, hoping to be clued in by students in the class she missed.

Mina caught Odd's hand and asked him to wait. Walking back into the woods, she sat down by a large tree. As Odd joined her, she stared at him.

"What are you staring at?" Unsure of how to react, he felt his cheeks grow red.

"I'm not very good at what I do." She stated, turning her head towards the sky.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't protect Aelita... you saw what happened."

"It's not your fault," he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You haven't had to deal with William before."

"I was programmed specifically to protect her. What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing! You're just... rusty."

"Rusty?"

"Yeah like... you were trapped for a long time, you just have to get back in the game." He looked at her with a smile.

"I guess so. But those monsters that trapped me, I couldn't do anything, what if they come back?"

"You have me, and Ulrich, and Yumi to help you!"

"They had us both, I was so scared. I came so close to..."

"I know, but you're fine now."

"...Who were you doing to pick?" She looked up at him with curious eyes.

"W-what are you talking about?" Odd was shocked that she still realized what was going on. Did that happen? Did he just not know about it?

"You almost had to choose between me or Aelita, yes?" She waited as he nodded slowly. "So, who were you going to pick?"

"Oh, well uh... I was," he paused, looking at the small girl leaning on him. "I was going to pick-"

"Guys?" They heard Ulrich call. "What are you doing in- oh!" He said surprised as he saw Odd's shoulder wrapped around her. "I um, sorry!"

"That's okay!" Mina responded cheerfully, disconnecting herself from Odd. She stood up and smiled at the brown haired boy. "Coming Odd?" The young boy nodded and quickly walked after his two friends, sighing with relief.


	11. Chapter 11

Time had passed, and the annual prom was coming up at Kadic. Young girls were frolicking around the school, trying to find someone to go with, embarrassed due to their age. The gym was decorated for the event, poorly. Sissi constantly had been harassing Ulrich for the past week trying to convince him to go with her. Jeremie had naturally declined any kind of offer from his friends to go. Aelita had agreed to join the group so they could all go as friends. Odd still hadn't mustered up the courage to ask Mina, and she was clueless to what a prom even was.

Aelita, Yumi, and Mina sat in the library, quietly giggling about their day. Yumi and Aelita had poked fun at Mina for not grasping the concept of the prom.

"So... the school stands in the gym... to do what?" She looked at the two, not very interested by the information they had given her.

"Well," Yumi started, "you can dance with people, there's food! It's just a good time."

"I doesn't sound like it."

"But Mina you have to go!" Aelita said rather loudly, causing a flurry of hushes to be sent through the room.

"Besides," said Yumi, "I know someone who wants to go with you." Smiling, she looked at Mina's still confused face.

"What? Who?"

"You have to know!"

"Is it that boy that was talking to me in my History class? He seems nice but I'm sure he doesn't-"

"It's Odd," Aelita blurted out, getting a glare from Yumi.

"Aelita! You ruined it!"

"Odd wants to go with me...?" The bell rang, and Yumi and Aelita sprang up and quickly left the room, leaving Mina in a cloud of confusion. Standing up slowly, she made her way to the lunch room where she spotted Ulrich and Odd sitting by themselves, goofing around as usual. Well, Odd was, Ulrich didn't look amused.

"Hey Mina!" Ulrich said as she pulled out a chair to sit down. She smiled softly at him. Mina giggled slightly as she watched Odd wolf down his lunch.

"Are you boys excited for the prom? I know Yumi is, Ulrich." Flashing a smile, she watched the young boy's cheeks grow red.

"Uh.. um yeah. I'm really excited. But hey, speaking of the prom, Odd? Didn't you want to ask Mina something?" Ulrich said-, looking mischievously at his friend, and laughing as the blonde choked on his food.

"Well maybe Odd can ask her later," Jeremie interrupted, standing next to Mina, "there's an activated tower on Lyoko."

"I'm getting confused," Odd finally said. "There have been activated towers, but no actual attacks, why don't we just ignore it?"

"I think Xana knows that if there's an activated tower, we anticipate an attack. So he just doesn't waste his time anymore because he knows we're coming anyway. He's after me and Aelita, and he knows we'll be there, so why should he waste energy on an attack?" Mina looked at Odd with tired eyes. He nodded and got up with the other two and followed Jeremie out of the school. Yumi and Aelita were waiting at the sewer for them.

"I've been thinking." Aelita stated. Not waiting for a response, she continued. "I think, we need to start planning more."

"What do you mean?" asked Ulrich.

"I think she means we go into Lyoko completely unaware of what's about to happen." Yumi stated, looking at Ulrich, then to Aelita. "We need some sort of attack-"

"Or defense!" Mina chirped.

"Or defense, plan. Something. Anything."

"Let's not worry about this now," Jeremie said quickly, entering the sewers, "come on!"

The group made their way through the sewers quietly. Ulrich and Yumi were casually talking about prom as they raced through the tunnels. Odd was running next to Mina, trying to muster up the courage to ask her to prom. Aelita raced ahead of the group, and was the first up the ladder.

"I'll send you all in." Jeremie blandly stated as the group headed for the scanners. The four children were virtualized quickly onto the ice sector.

"Where's William?" Odd asked Jeremie. He looked towards the direction of the activated tower and saw a cloud of black smoke coming towards him. "Damn."

"Yumi, try to get around him with me, Ulrich, Odd, get William! Mina, defend." Aelita took Yumi's arm and they took off on the overwing. Odd leapt towards William with Ulrich following. Mina stayed behind, watching Aelita and Yumi.

Odd gave Ulrich a boost up and launched him into the air. William easily dodged the brunette and dove into Odd. Knocking the boy to the ground, he held up his large weapon and roughly brought it down, only to be caught by a rope of energy coming from Mina's small hand. Lifting it up into the air, she tossed it away. William raced after her, grabbing her arm and whipping her into the air. As she landing on her board, she raced in the opposite direction of her friends. As she looked behind her, she saw everyone retreating towards Aelita and Yumi, including William.

As Mina raced towards her friends, she saw Aelita and Yumi being stopped by a swarm of crabs and blocks. Throwing energy fields at random, she fired at least ten, she hit four. Odd and Ulrich had mounted their vehicles and were almost to Yumi and Aelita when William appeared in front of them. Ulrich quickly slid to the side and continued forward. Odd quickly jerked to a stop and was grabbed by the black haired minion. Ulrich looked behind him and groaned, about to turn around, he heard Yumi yell, she had been hit with a block. He called out to her as she was de-virtualized, and quickly made his way to Aelita to protect her.

Mina created another tentacle of energy and reached out towards William. He looked at her and smirked menacingly, carrying Odd to the edge. Her eyes went wide as she dropped down lower, trying her best to get to Odd. William let out a loud laugh and carelessly tossed Odd over the edge of the sector.

"Odd!" Mina and Jeremie both yelled. The others, hearing Jeremie's voice, turned towards Mina and Odd's direction, gasping. William threw another red cloud of smoke at Mina, and at once her board began disappearing. Crying out, she landed on the ground with a soft thud and continued to run forward.

"Aelita, what's taking you so long!? Get to the tower!" Jeremie shouted. Aelita gasped as she shot another energy field at the never ending swarm of crabs.

"Try to go around, I'll cover you." Ulrich said reassuringly. Aelita nodded and proceeded to find away around this army.

Mina didn't hesitate as she leapt over the edge of the sector, angling her body straight down. Odd was flailing about, try to find something to dig his claws into. He gasped as he felt small arms wrap around him. Mina held him tightly to her, encompassing them both into the sinister mist. As they dove into the digital sea, Yumi and Jeremie both cried out, unable to fathom what just happened. Ulrich grunted with distress, super-sprinting onto the tops of three crabs, driving his saber into the symbol on the top. They exploded, and the other monsters seemed to just simply back off.

Aelita sighed and quickly entered the tower. "Tower, deactivated." She said finally.

"Jeremie!" Ulrich called out, "Should we try a return?"

"There's no harm, Jeremie..." Yumi said as she watched her blonde friend press the magic key. The white light swallowed all of them, but there was no hope between the four.

When Mina and Odd first hit the digital sea, nothing happened, the red mist dissolved and something new surrounded them. A familiar teal blue orb grew out of her charm, and saved them from the consequences of the digital sea. So they pair floated, unconscious in the pixelated ocean, awaiting their rescue.


	12. Chapter 12

Back at Kadic, Jeremie, Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi sat outside the school in silence. They were all astonished by what had happened. They lost Odd and Mina.

"Can't we use some of their DNA to bring them back? Like when Yumi was lost!" Aelita chriped.

"We could try." Jeremie blandly responded. Looking off, zoning out, he detached from his friends.

"...You know," Ulrich started, "ever since we met Mina, things have been worse."

"Yeah. I know." Jeremie mumbled.

"And I mean, she didn't want to be here anyway, right?"

"Right..."

"No, what are you implying?" Yumi said angrily.

"What if we just... got Odd back, then shut off the supercomputer."

"No!" Aelita cried. "That is not even an option!"

"Aelita's right." Yumi agreed. "You, Jeremie, and Odd wanted to shut off the supercomputer while William was still there, and now leave him AND Mina? Never."

"I'm just saying," Ulrich continued slowly. "We all love Mina, but we have to think of the safety of the group."

"I can't believe you're actually considering this!" Aelita yelled.

"Listen, we'll talk about this later, alright guys?" Jeremie said as he rose from the bench.

"No we won't, because there's nothing to talk about." Yumi and Aelita stormed off, leaving the boys to think.

"Ulrich, let's head down to the factory, see if we can find a trace of them." The brunette nodded and the pair quickly made their way to the sewer. As Jeremie sat in his large chair, Ulrich stood behind him anxiously. Jeremie typed away, beginning to run a scan throughout the digital sea.

"Anything?" The young boy asked, lacking hope.

"Actually... no. I can't get a trace of them at all. I thought there would be any kind of fragments of data, especially from Mina." The blonde sighed, and dropped his head.

"What do we do Jeremie? We could get the skid and go look..."

"But they're not there, what's the point?"

"See what this has done to us!?" Ulrich cried, causing his friend to look up. "Ever since we've found Mina and brought her here, everything has been worse! On Lyoko, in the real world, everything! We used to never give up until we solved a problem, now we're just giving up on saving _Odd _Jeremie, _our Odd._"

"Maybe... Maybe we're just tired, Ulrich. Tired of all this Lyoko nonsense. It's ruining everything."

"It never ruined anything... it brought us together."

"And now we're all splitting apart again, because of this."

"I just want to find Odd, Jeremie." The screen behind the blonde boy started to beep, it had found something.

"Hey, look at this." Typing quickly, coordinates popped up on the screen. "There's something in sector five... wanna go have a look?" Ulrich nodded slowly and headed for the scanners. "I hope it's Odd" Ulrich mumbled and stepped into the large machine.

As he hit the floor on sector five, Ulrich mounted his overbike and started towards the designated area.

"There's no sign of William, or any monsters." Jeremie said through the headset.

"Well that's a relief."

"Turn left up here."

"Uh..."

"Problem?"

"If I turn left... I'll go over." The monocyle skidded to a stop at the ledge on the outside of the large sphere. Looking over the edge, he didn't see anything hopeful.

"Damn it. Alright. Just... I guess you'll come back."

"No." Revving his vehicle, Ulrich turned around back towards the entry way. "Send me to another sector. I'm checking all of them."

"But Ulrich-"

"No, Jeremie! I'm not leaving Odd this time." Hearing his friend sigh, he was transported to the desert sector.

"Just, be careful, alright?"

"I promise, I'm gonna find him, Jeremie."

**Sorry about the length. Longer/better chapter next.**


	13. Chapter 13

Aelita paced across Yumi's large bedroom floor; she was panicking.

"You don't think they'll jump to any decisions, right?" She stopped and looked hopefully at her Japanese friend.

"No... they wouldn't do that, they're not like that."

"What's going on with everyone?"

"We're just... stressed out and frustrated. We were so close to getting William back, then we found Mina. And now she's here, but still no more William."

"Everyone was so ready to shut off the supercomputer with William still on Lyoko," she snapped. "Is this what's happened? Every man for himself? I'm not sure I can do this anymore, Yumi." Tears sprung into her eyes. These weren't the people she was friends with.

"Aelita, don't worry, no one's getting rid of anyone, okay?" Putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, she smiled. "We'll talk to Jeremie and Ulrich tomorrow, okay?"

"What are we going to do about our classes? I think it'll be too obvious to clone Odd and Mina."

"I'm not sure... But come on, let's get you back to school, it's getting late."

The next morning, Yumi and Ulrich sat alone in the lunch room. It was oddly quiet between the two. Tension rose from their still bodies.

"Did you find anything?" She mumbled without looking at him.

"No. I have to check the forest sector still."

"Nothing in sector five?"

"I said no!" He snapped. Yumi slumped farther down into her chair. Taking her hand in his, Ulrich turned towards her. "I'm sorry. I just- they're gone, Yumi. I can't find them."

"We'll find them though, we've never given up."

"What if we have to?"

"We won't. I want to go with you to Lyoko after classes, and I'm bringing Aelita."

"Is she still mad at me and Jeremie?"

"Yes. But maybe she can help, she does have more access to information than we do."

"Alright, maybe we'll get lucky." Squeezing her hand, he gave her a soft peck on the mouth. Seeing Yumi smile made Ulrich's mood flutter to a high. Smiling back, he rose from his seat, and left for his first class.

Sitting in Science, Ulrich couldn't concentrate. Every few seconds he'd glance at Jeremie, scribbling down notes, and huffing repeatedly. Once the bell rang he leapt from his seat, and out the door, hoping that by moving fast, his classes would speed through.

Finally, the last bell rang. The brunette rushed straight for the sewers, where he was met by Yumi, Jeremie, and a distant Aelita. Without speaking, they descended into the .

"I hope we find something," Yumi mumbled. No one responded.

"Get to the scanners." Jeremie quickly said. As he transported his friends, Jeremie didn't quite know how to take all of this. He barely avoided confrontation about the missing pair, but he knew they needed to find them, and fast.

The trio landed on the hard ground of the forest sector. Stepping gingerly on their vehicles- Aelita on the overboard, they decided to split up, to save time. Aelita immediately took of towards the direction of the tower, determined to find something.

"Are you sure Ulrich checked all of the ice sector?" Aelita called up.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Well, I'm going back." She drove herself into the tower, over the side, and was soon on her way back up and out of the tower into the ice sector.

"Aelita, this is dangerous, go back!"

"No, Jeremie, I need to find them!" She jumped off of the overboard and began her search on foot.

"The board is faster."

"We don't need fast, we need thorough." After a few minutes of slowly walking around, she stopped and sighed.

"Are you-"

"Sh." Dropping to her knees, she put her hands in her lap, and began to hum. The ground lit up beneath her and covered the entire sector. Wrinkling her nose, she focused. Familiar pulsations rippled through the virtual ground. Opening her large eyes, she stood. The ground dimmed to it's original color, but the pulsations were still there. "I can feel them." Running down a narrow path, the pulsations were stronger.

"How did you do that?" Jeremie asked, astonished.

"I'm not sure, get the others over here!" She continued running, smiling as the vibrations got even stronger. Skidding to a stop at the edge of a large ledge, she gasped. Behind her, Yumi and Ulrich approached, having gotten there in record time. Looking down towards the digital sea, she saw the pulsations continuing through the water.

"How do we get down there?" Yumi asked.

"What about the Skid..."

"No Ulrich, you know how unstable that was." Jeremie scolded.

"I'm not leaving until we get down there," Aelita stated.

"Yes you are," Jeremie told her, "we can't have Odd, Mina, and you missing from school."

"It's okay Aelita, we have time before we have to go back." Yumi put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"If they're safe down there, I should be too." Aelita mumbled.

"Don't even think-" the pinkette dove for the surface of the sea before Ulrich could even finish his sentence. "Aelita!"

Yumi stared at her falling friend until a dim white light surrounded Aelita, Yumi brought her back up to the surface.

"Aelita, are you crazy?" Jeremie yelled, "I'm bringing you all back in!"

"Jeremie no!" Aelita pleaded.

"He's right, you're going insane over this." Ulrich said, keeping a tight grip on Aelita's arm as they were all virtualized.

As the three stumbled out of the scanners, Yumi grasped Aelita's shoulders. Looking her in the eyes seriously, Aelita looked scared and hopeless.

"We're going to get them back, Aelita. But we need you to stay calm."

"This is all my fault." She said, tears pooling over the edges of her eyes. Yumi pulled her small friend in for a tight hug.

"We'll get them back."


	14. Chapter 14

Odd's eyes opened. All he saw was a teal blue sky, pulsating around him.

_"__I'm dreaming." _His hand touched something rough. Looking down, he gasped and pulled his hand away from the fabric on Mina's arm. He looked at her unconscious face; she looked distressed. Reaching out to touch her cheek, he watched her. As he looked around the cramped space, he drifted towards the edge of the bubble and looked out. _"Where...am I?"_ His mind was drawing a blank.

A kongre and a shark bashing into the side of the orb caused Odd to float backwards abruptly, hitting Mina. A loud groan escaped from the pair. Quickly lifting her up, he watched the orb glow brightly again.

_"__I need to be careful." _The confused young boy attempted to open his mouth and speak, but found himself unable to do so. _"How long have I been here... and how do I get out?"_Mina strirred, causing Odd to draw back, startled.

A small sigh escaped her lips as her eyes drifted open. She rolled a bit then maneuvered herself into a standing position, looking at Odd with glassy eyes. She took his hand and pulled him close to her, keeping them in the center.

_"__You can't go towards the sides, they'll see you and break the field."_ She blinked slowly, her silent statement traveled through the still air, hitting Odd.

_"__Mina... what the hell is going on..."_

_"__We're safe. We'll get out soon."_

_"__But how did we-" _Mina's eyes drifted shut again and she receded back into her previous position, falling back into her unresponsive state. This was too weird. Odd whimpered and stayed towards the center with her, and waited.

Yumi and Aelita stood alone in front of the scanners. Stepping in without a word to each other, they were sent to the ice sector.

"No more of this crazy stuff, Aelita, we're going to find them today, together."

"I know, I'll behave."

"Jeremie? Are you and Ulrich ready?"

"Yes."

The two stood still, and waited for what they were hoping to happen. Aelita gasped slightly when the ground shook beneath her. Looking ahead, she turned to Yumi and nodded. The two friends took off in the directions of the pulsations, they were going to save Odd and Mina. Moving as fast as they could, they were soon met with blocks. Aelita took flight, leaving Yumi alone to fight them.

Bouncing off the top of one of them, Yumi threw her fans to the oncoming enemies, destroying two of them. The mechanical sound of crabs approaching made her stomach turn; odds are, William was coming soon. Taking down another block, the young girl could make out the approaching red giants running towards her, with a small silhouette riding on top of one.

A cloud of smoke raced towards her, Aelita looked below and saw her foe approaching quickly. Keeping her eye on the pulsations, she ignored the obvious threat about to stall her. A quiet "oof" was heard as William leapt up and grabbed her, throwing her to the ground. Her small frame shook as the ground did, she was so close.

Yumi had taken out a crab and was down to three enemies who were relentless. Dodging every attack fired at her she was suddenly hit out of nowhere and thrown down. Quickly recovering, she threw her fans with a sharp cry and smiled as she destroyed to more. One to go. She leapt as high as she could onto the top of the final crab and slashed the familiar sign on it's head with her fan. Landing on the ground, she raced towards her friend in trouble, leaving behind a pile of rubble.

William was taken by surprise when Yumi snuck up on him and threw him off of Aelita. Taking her friends hand, she pushed her in the right direction, determined to finish what she started. William grunted and lurched towards Yumi, tossing her. With a loud thud, she stayed still for a moment, scared. Watching her pink haired partner get farther and farther away, her hope began to grow.

Aelita finally reached the strongest part in the sector. Looking over the edge, she knew she found them. Dropping to her knees, she began to hum. The digital sea began to ripple, and she knew she was doing something right. Behind her a ways, she could hear Yumi cry out as William had averted his attention to Aelita and was running towards her at a strange speed. Coming after him on her overwing, a look of determination created a second mask for Yumi.

Just as William was about to reach Aelita, something magnificent happened. The teal orb surfaced. As it rose, Aelita and Yumi cried out with absolute joy. Increasing in speed, it landed on the ground and rolled quickly before coming to a stop. As it slowed down, it knocked the approaching William backwards, throwing him into the digital sea.

Aelita and Yumi watched as the orb began to melt, leaving Odd and Mina on the ground. Odd stood up, dusting himself off.

"Took you long enough!"

"Shut up." They said in unison. All eyes went to Mina as she sat up and held her head.

"I use so much energy on all of you." She said weakly. Odd went over to her and helped her up. Holding her close to him he whispered a "thank you" which caused her to smile softly.

"Thank God!" Jeremie yelled as he and Ulrich high fived.

"Mina," Odd started. "I can't hold off anymore, and I can't wait until the next weird thing to happen to stall me." She looked at him questioningly.

"Odd, can't this-"

"Will you go to prom with me?" He asked her loudly. The group groaned as one by one they were virutalized. Mina's face disappeared into pixels with a blush on her cheeks, trying to hide her smile.


	15. Chapter 15

"I don't know," Mina said as she looked at herself in the mirror. "This dress doesn't look right on me." It was prom night, and the girls were trying to coax Mina into the dress they had spent hours trying to pick out for her.

"What's wrong with it?" Yumi asked as she looked at her friend. The young Japanese girl took a moment to take in her own appearance, a simple navy-blue strapless dress with black flower accents at the bottom, grazing her knees. Tapping her feet on the ground, she saw her black heels reflect the sub par lighting in Mina's room. Ruffling her curled hair, she pursed her pale lips and smiled at her friend.

"You look fantastic!" Aelita cried as she walked into Mina's room. Aelita herself was dressed in a cream colored dress with small diamonds coating the thick straps resting on her shoulders. A thin pink diamond choker rested simply around her. A little higher than expected, Aelita made an attempt to tug down her skirt, hoping it would touch her knees. Clicking her pink flats together, she smiled at her friends.

Looking at Mina, the two put on the final touches. Mina was clad in a dark purple, mid-thigh length dress. The thick straps fit tightly to her shoulders. With a pleated bottom, it extenuated her plain form and made her look like a whole new person. With no design or decals on it, the blandness almost made it stand out among the other girls. Her gray heels clicked loudly on the floor as she stumbled around, looking for the bracelets her friends had brought for her.

"It just doesn't feel right..." Turning to the side, Mina looked at herself, she wasn't sure about this at all.

"I think you're just nervous about whether or not Odd will like it." Aelita stated, smiling. Mina turned to face her, a dark blush forming on her made up face.

"I am not!"

"Oh my God, you are!" Yumi cried, laughing. Putting a hand on Mina's shoulder, she turned her towards the mirror once again. "Odd is going to think you look perfect."

"Knock knock!" Ulrich said cheerfully as he, Odd, and Jeremie walked in abruptly.

"What if we were changing!" Aelita snapped, looking between the three.

"Are you?"

"No, Ulrich, you can see us."

"Then there's no problem!" Walking quickly over to Yumi, Ulrich wrapped her up into a warm hug, kissing her temple. "You look absolutely amazing." He whispered to her. A blush creeped onto her cheeks as she smiled into him.

Jeremie looked at Aelita, she averted her gaze away from him. Sighing, he crossed the room and grasped her hand; whispering to her, they soon left the room leaving the four with strange looks on their faces.

"Where are they-" Mina started, then instantly hushed when Odd lightly touched her waist. Drawing her closer to him, he smiled.

"I really love your dress." He said with a huge smile. Laughing quietly, she muttered a thank you, and the group left the dorm room, only to be stopped by what they saw in front of them. Aelita and Jeremie had finished...talking, and had started doing something else. Their lips were feverishly smashing against each other, clumsily, as neither had really ever properly made out before.

Mina coughed a bit and began to choke on her laughter; patting her back slightly, Odd laughed with her and Ulrich and Yumi soon joined them. Taking a while to notice their friends, the two broke apart, blushing furiously. After they all had calmed down, they made their way to the dance.

The night was off to a wonderful start, they gym was decorated nicely for once, and everyone was dressed like they took it a little more seriously. There was live music this year and the school was rocking out to the Sub Digitals. There was talking and laughing and fast dancing and slow dancing, Mina was overwhelmed. More people were coming in and bumping and running into her, she broke away from Odd and scurried outside, the blonde close behind.

Sitting beside her on the stairs to the gym, he wrapped an arm around her. The two sat in silence, the only noise was Mina's heavy breathing. Pulling her close to him, he didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry." She said finally.

"It's new for you."

"Everything is still new for me, there are lots of things I haven't experienced yet."

"It's only been a few months, it'll get a lot easier, I promise." A drop of rain fell on Odd's dark pants, causing him to look up. It soon began to sprinkle, Mina whimpered and squirmed.

"What is this?"

"...You've never felt rain." He stated, looking at her. A few months was a while to not feel rain. It's not like rain was uncommon.

"I really like it," she said suddenly, standing up and walking down the concrete steps. Odd followed close behind. It quickly started to rain harder and harder, until it was pouring. Mina let out a loud cry and laughed to herself. Pulling Odd by the hand, she stepped out of her uncomfortable shoes and danced around, letting her makeup run down her face.

"We should go back inside, you might get sick." He said as his hair deflated. He groaned.

"Please don't make me, this is lovely!" She ran her hands through her short hair and fell into Odd, pressing her cheek against his. Drawing back slightly, they looked at each other. Odd wrapped his skinny arms around her as she rested her hands on his shoulder. Leaning in slowly, his numb lips softly touched hers. Mina was confused, not knowing what a kiss was, and slowly responded by pressing her face harder against his. Laughing, Odd drew back, giving her a soft peck on the forehead.

A sound in the nearby woods caused them to break away completely, and look into the darkness. Stepping in front of Mina, Odd leaned forward and peered into the blackness, unsure what he was looking for. The same sound, rustling, was heard in a completely different area now, Odd gasped, turning quickly towards the opposite direction. Behind him, he heard a loud thud, and Mina cry out. Turning around, she wasn't there. Odd turned around in quick circles, looking for her, but couldn't see her, he didn't even see the direction she went in, until he saw a spark of red light coming from the woods.

Darting into the gym, he slipped and slid through the gym, looking for his friends. Bumping into people and receiving dirty looks, he glanced around frantically.

"Odd?" Ulrich asked, moving through the crowd, "what happened to you?"

Breathlessly, Odd looked at him. "Something took Mina!" A look of disbelief ran across Ulrich's face. As Ulrich, Odd and Yumi quickly found Aelita and Jeremie, the group dashed out of the gym and into the woods, unaware of what they were in for.

A loud scream caused them to stop dead in their tracks and try to figure out where it was coming from, it seemed to echo off of every tree in the forest.

"We should split up!" Jeremie said.

"That's a horrible idea," Ulrich retorted, "stay together."

Another scream, quieter, rang out through the brush. Yumi pointed towards a direction and the group darted forward, searching. Finally, after running for a while, they stopped in a clearing where they saw Mina cowering against a tree.

"Mina!" Aelita called out, daring to take a step forward.

"No! Please go back, it's a trap!" She called out. Someone appeared from out of the darkness, the rain made it hard to see them at first, but the clouds suddenly moved out of the way for the moon to show down on their face.

"...What?" Jeremie said when he saw who it was.

"Wait... " Yumi covered her mouth as she trailed off.

"Mina, please be careful." Odd softly called to her.

"Jeremie? What's going on?" Aelita asked, taking a step back.

"Oh my God." Ulrich simply stated, "How?"


	16. Chapter 16

William looked at the group with a menacing grin. Forcefully pulling Mina up by her arm, he held her tightly. The group watched, unable to fathom what was going on. A black mist began to seep through William, and spread to Mina's shaking body, transferring itself into her. Tossing her to the ground, he laughed and dashed into the woods.

Her friends ran over to her and helped her stand. Mina coughed a bit and shook some leaves out of her hair. Then rain hadn't let up and they were all soaked. Making their way back to school, Odd refused to let go of Mina's hand, afraid of losing her again. Walking into the dimly lit hallways, they retreated to Mina's room to lay her down to rest. The dance was still supposed to be going on for a few more hours so they had most of the dorms to themselves.

Mina pulled on a pair of blue sweatpants and a gray sweater after tossing her soggy dress onto her floor. Discouraged that she left her shoes at the dance, she continued to apologize as Aelita and Yumi gathered her dirty clothes for her.

"I'm nothing but trouble." She said as she crawled under the warm covers.

"Don't say that." Aelita said quietly as she scurried around her room. Finally sitting with Yumi on her bed, they both smiled.

"I've put you all through a lot," she continued, "maybe I should go back-"

"No!" Yumi said suddenly. "Don't blame yourself for Xana! We're going to get William back and shut down the supercomputer so you won't ever have to worry about this." As the two girls hugged their discouraged friend, Odd walked in sheepishly. They left, leaving Odd and Mina by themselves.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly, tying to see any bruises William might've left.

"I think so, yes."

"What did he... do to you?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we'll need to examine further."

"You must be tired, I'll let you sleep."

"Don't go yet... what if he comes back?" Her already large eyes were now the size of dinner plates as she thought of William knowing where she was. Odd sat next to her and she curled up into a ball. She was just a scared little girl.

"We're in way over our head." Odd mumbled to himself. Holding onto Mina, he stayed with her until her breathing slowed down. Gently laying her down, he retreated to his room, where he was met by the rest of the group.

"How the hell was William here?" Yumi asked angrily as soon as he walked in.

"How am I supposed to know!" Jeremie yelled, throwing his hands up. Typing away at his computer, he scanned for any attacks, there weren't any.

"He's still obviously under Xana's control," began Ulrich; "and he put something in Mina... what if she becomes dangerous?"

"She won't." Odd growled.

"This is getting insane." Yumi said, looking at all of her friends, "William's here now, we can't handle him in the real world. We have to do something."

"Remember what we were talking about?" Ulrich asked.

"Don't you dare bring that up again!" Aelita shouted and pointed a finger in his face. "What if it were you in Mina's place, you'd let us just get rid of you, probably along with William? That's not an option!"

"Aelita's right." Yumi said, glaring at her boyfriend.

"When were you talking about getting rid of Mina?" Odd asked, confused.

"We're thinking about the good of the team!" Jeremie yelled once again, louder.

"Mina _is_ part of our team!" Yumi yelled back.

"She's not even a real human!" Ulrich shouted at Yumi, causing her to draw back slightly. "She's not real and you all know it! We could just delete the data that was given to us so she returns to the SIFVE form, she won't know what's going on!"

"Mina's human now, and she's just as important as every one of us!" Aelita screamed, now teary-eyed. "What's happened to all of you!? Just being so ready to get rid of one- two of our friends! You make me sick!"

"This is unbelievable," Yumi mumbled, looking from Ulrich to Jeremie.

"Listen," Odd started, "tomorrow, we need to take Mina to the factory and figure out what William did to her, we're going to go to Lyoko so she and Aelita can try to fix it, we're not leaving her behind, or shutting down the supercomputer." He looked at all his friends. Yumi and Aelita nodded in agreement, but Jeremie and Ulrich stood their ground.

"Ulrich, you're supposed to be my best friend."

"Odd, I'm just thinking of the group. We _are _best friends, that's why I'm so worried." Shaking their heads, Aelita and Yumi stormed out, eager to leave the negative environment.

"I would never have you do this to anyone, so why are you making me?"

"You don't understand because you have something with her, but she's putting us in a lot of danger."

"We're always in danger anyway."

"Odd, can we talk about this in the morning?"

"There's nothing to talk about. Jeremie, leave." He shut the door as the torn blonde left the room, leaving the air thick with tension. Odd stripped and crawled into bed with Kiwi, not saying another word. Ulrich sighed, doing the same and they both eventually dosed off.


	17. Chapter 17

Mina woke up abruptly. As her eyes shot open, she let out a loud gasp as a sharp pain shot through her entire body. She looked towards her closed door and listened closely. A small voice was heard on the other side of the door. Her clocked read 1:30. Why would anyone be up? The voice continued, whispering... to her. As she whimpered quietly, she pulled the covers over her head and shut her eyes tightly.

The sound of knocking on her door startled her, but she didn't move from her bed. The knocking grew louder and she began breathe heavily. Hoping someone would hear her, she knocked on her wall rather loudly. When no one responded, she curled up into a tiny ball in the corner of her bed and endured the fear as the knocking continued.

"Mina." A deep voice quickly whispered through the door. She stopped breathing. Who was it? The knocking turned into harsh pounding and the voice continued, "Mina, Mina, Mina." and a sudden feeling came over her, she knew who it was. Peeking out from her covers, she looked at the door.

"Xana..." Her door burst open and William walked in, still obviously under his control. Crossing the room with long strides, he stood in front of her bed. Placing a hand on her cheek, he stared at her.

"Come back." She looked up at him with wide eyes. His mouth moved slowly, like he was struggling.

"I...I can't." Mina couldn't go back, she had somewhat of a life at Kadic.

"Your place isn't here. I'll get you back, one way or another." William's body began to change into something sinister. Mina cowered back into the corner and watched as his body jerked and he grunted, his appendages swinging and bending. Shrieking, she covered heard head again. A loud bang rang out across her room.

She sat up quickly in her bed, sweating. Looking around, her room was quiet. Mina sighed loudly; it was just a dream. The clock read 3:38. Laying her head back down on her pillow, she took a deep breath and slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Hey!" Aelita chirped as the sluggish brunette pulled out a chair and plopped down. Mina had kept drifting in and out of sleep, taunted by those horrific nightmares. With a simple nod at her opposite, she slid her arms across the table and dropped her head down in them. Yumi walked into the crowded room, and sat down next to Aelita.

"You okay?" She asked the tired girl.

"Yes, I'm just a bit... tired." A small yawn escaped her lazy mouth and she closed her large eyes. A familiar hand grasping hers caused her to smile and sit up. "Odd," she breathed. Pressing his lips quickly against hers, he turned towards Yumi and Aelita. All three of them shared a look as Mina stared, clueless.

"When are we going to take her to the scanners?" He asked quickly, determined to prove Jeremie and Ulrich wrong.

"I suppose we have to wait until after classes today." Yumi said, looking at Mina.

"But I want to go now..." Mina huffed and slumped down in her seat. Odd's thumb grazed her knuckles, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"We have to wait for Ulrich and Jeremie," Yumi chimed.

"No we don't!" Admitted the pinkette, standing up. "I can do it."

"I don't know..."

"No!" Mina said loudly, "it's okay, I trust her!" Smiling, she stood and the pair bounded out of the now crowded lunch room. Shrugging, Yumi and Odd followed, eager.

"Okay," Aelita started as she sat down in the large computer chair, "we have to get her to the tower she was materialized in, that's where all the original data should be."

"Odd and I will go with her, you stay here, okay?" With a nod between the four, Mina, Yumi, and Odd headed to the scanner room.

"We don't have any time to waste." Yumi stated as she hopped on her overwing. Odd followed with Mina close behind. As they made their way through the quiet forest, their anticipation grew.

"Aelita," she gasped and turned behind her, Jeremie and Ulrich stood stiff, arms crossed. Standing up slowly, she whispered "sorry" into the microphone. Jeremie huffed over to the chair and sat, typing. The elevator doors opening again caused the trio to turn around.

"William!" Aelita yelled as the taller boy raced over to Ulrich, knocking him across the room. Stalking after Jeremie next, he was smacked on the back by the small girl. He grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her to the ground. The next thing that happened, shocked everyone. William shook and turned into dark smoke, seeping into the large computer in front of Jeremie. The blonde fell completely out of his chair in shock.

"Where is he?" Ulrich grumbled.

"In Lyoko!" Jeremie cried as he looked at his monitor. William had returned to Lyoko without a scanner.

The whir of the scanners was heard and the sound of the elevators started up again. The three turned around to see a concerned Odd and Yumi quickly walk to the computer, breathless.

"I don't know what happened," Yumi started, "he just came at us, he appeared out of nowhere. We heard Mina yell, but before we could even fully turn around, he took us out."

"I'll go in" Ulrich growled as he stomped into the elevator.

"No let me-" Aelita started.

"You've done enough" Jeremie barked, looking among the three.

"I don't trust you with her." Odd said loudly. He took a daring step towards his once best friend.

"We don't have a choice." And with that he was gone.

Immediately after he hit the ground, Ulrich sprinted towards Mina and William, drawing his weapon. Jumping high into the air, he came down hard on William who swiftly dodged the attack. Grabbing the tip of his saber, he tossed Ulrich like he was nothing, clear across the area. Mina whimpered and began to dash for the tower, she was going to make it. Hearing Ulrich cry out, she stopped and turned around. William had taken him and the same black mist was seeping into Ulrich, just as he did to Mina.

"No!" She cried and sprinted towards her foe. Stretching the energy in her hands, she reached out four long tentacles, and a wave of energy surged through it. Slamming them onto the ground, the energy rippled through the still ground, bringing William to his knees. Ulrich fell onto the ground and coughed. Mina dug her hands into the ground, a bubble of energy surrounded William, trapping him.

Letting out a gasp, Mina stood, weakened. Running over to Ulrich who was still on the ground, shaking and flickering, she put her arms around him. Her body began to glow along with the charm at her side, the black cloud instantly drew out of him. Soaring through the air, it dove through the teal blue dome and back into William. Ulrich quickly stood and looked at the tired Mina. He then pushed her out of the way as William launched himself at her. Looking at her, Ulrich nodded to her, urging her forward.

The small charm glowed once again, and her physical form disappeared, leaving a ball of energy racing through the air and straight into the tower. Jeremie began typing at the computer silently as the trio of friends waited.

"Oh no," Jeremie started.

"...What?" Aelita whispered.

"Whatever that stuff was that William put into her, it's some kind of energy, straight from Xana himself."

"What does that mean?" Odd asked loudly.

"It means there's a piece of Xana inside of Mina... it looks like..." he began tapping away at the keys again, "there's a bug in her, some sort of tracker. The tags on Lyoko of how I track you guys, well, it's like Xana has a permanent tag on Mina in real life too."

"Can you fix it Jeremie?" They heard Mina ask.

"I don't know." He mumbled.

"Well," she started, "I guess I'll have to stay here until you can fix it. I can't have him looking for me on Earth."

"Mina...no..." Yumi said, horribly discouraged. Odd and Aelita looked at each other and the blonde dropped his head. Clenching his fists, he walked to the elevator. As the door closed, separating him from his friends, he let the tears flow from his eyes and choked out a sob.


	18. Chapter 18

"What a horrible time for you to leave us" Aelita groaned as she put a pair of socks into Yumi's heft suitcase.

"It's only a couple of weeks."

"Only!" The pink haired girl threw her hands up.

"As long as everyone stays calm, everything will be fine." Pausing, she looked at Aelita; "and as long as Mina stays on Lyoko, we're golden." Yumi heavily sighed and stopped packing for a moment. Rubbing her temples, she sat on the floor. Everything was catching up to her. She and Ulrich hadn't talked for days, and the rest of the group was just as tense. Yumi, Aelita and Odd were all on Mina's side, against Ulrich and Jeremie. Poor Mina had no idea the pair was plotting to get rid of her.

"Odd?" Ulrich mumbled, turning to face the blonde's bed. "Odd!" When there was no response, Ulrich grumbled and stood, scratching his brown covered head. Getting an idea to lighten the situation, he picked up the flimsy bed pillow and stalked across the room. He reached the side of Odd's bed and looked at the sleeping blonde. Smirking, he brought the large pillow down on his room mate's head. A large hand reached up and grabbed the pillow, tossing it to the door.

"Leave me alone." Odd commanded.

Jeremie scurried around his room, tossing things into his large backpack. Jeremie did and didn't want to leave for the holiday break. He did because he couldn't handle any of his "friends" anymore, but he didn't because of the threat Mina brought them. A light tapping on his door caused him to turn around. There Ulrich stood with a sour look on his face. As he sat on the frail boy's bed he looked at his new closest, and seemingly only friend.

"Still tense?" Jeremie asked.

"What do you think?" He snapped in reply.

"Jeez, sorry I asked."

"Why do you have to leave, you've gotten out of going with your dad so many times before."

"I feel bad, Ulrich. I miss my family and I've been blowing them off too much."

"It's only a week, right?"

"Right! And it'll go by faster than you think, then I'll come back and we can make our final decision about SIFVE." The pair and gone back to referring to Mina as the SIFVE program.

"What should I do while you're gone?"

"Just... look out for any suspicious behavior from the others, don't let them get into Lyoko unless it's completely necessary. Remember, Xana still wants Aelita." Jeremie zipped up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. Ulrich walked with him out of the school to wait for his dad.

Mina sat in a tower in the ice sector, bored. Resting her chin in her hand, she let out a loud sigh. She was too afraid to leave the safety of the tower, but she was getting restless. She hoped that something would happen so she could see Odd and the rest of her friends. Standing up, she walked to the edge of the bright panel and dove into the darkness. Her small body glowed and changed into her pure energy state. Before she knew it, she was in Sector Five. Running quickly to her destination, she panted quietly, aware of the odd silence throughout the large area.

"Can we go see her?" Odd asked Aelita as they sat in the cafeteria.

"Now?" Aelita looked at him, a smile smirk on her face. "A little eager, aren't we?"

"Aelitaaaaaaa." He groaned. "Please?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Looking around, they dashed for the woods. As they made it to the computer, Aelita pulled up a window. "Mina?" She waited for a moment, and suddenly, Mina's face appeared on the screen."

"Hello!" She exclaimed. "I'm so glad to speak to you, it's so lonely now that I've been on Earth for so long."

"Care for a visit?" Aelita asked cheerfully.

"Of course!" The screen blacked out while the pair laughed, heading for the scanners.

The friends fell to the ice sector's firm ground, to be greeted by a happy Mina prancing towards them. Hurling herself at Aelita, Mina wrapped her slender arms around her sister, squeezing her tight. Aelita laughed and gently detached herself, waiting for the reunion between the two love birds. Mina tightly wrapped her arms around Odd's shoulders as he slid his arms around her waist. Cupping his face, she stepped back and looked at the feline-clad boy in front of her.

"I missed you." He said quickly. She smiled and hugged him again.

"I missed you more."

"I'm going to go check out the other sectors, I'll let you know if anything weird is happening."

"Be careful." Mina said. Aelita nodded and ran off into the tower.

"How's life on Earth?" Mina asked, turning to face Odd once again.

"It's okay. How's Lyoko?"

"Strangely quiet. Are Ulrich, Jeremie and Yumi going to say hi?"

"Yumi's gone for a couple of weeks, and, well, Mina, we need to talk about Ulrich and Jeremie." Leading the young girl into the tower as a precaution, Odd began to tell her about how Ulrich and Jeremie are plotting to get rid of her and shut down Lyoko, with or without William. Mina stared at him, mouth hanging open. After Odd had finished, he looked at the distraught girl sitting next to him. Putting an arm around her, he waited.

"Why haven't they done it yet..." She started. "It'd be so easy."

"We won't let them."

"And they'll just leave William to die?"

"They're going insane." When Mina didn't respond, Odd held her tight, pulling her closer to him.

"Odd?"

"Yeah?" He looked at her.

"...I'm scared."


	19. Chapter 19

"What a horrible time for you to leave us" Aelita groaned as she put a pair of socks into Yumi's heft suitcase.

"It's only a couple of weeks."

"Only!" The pink haired girl threw her hands up.

"As long as everyone stays calm, everything will be fine." Pausing, she looked at Aelita; "and as long as Mina stays on Lyoko, we're golden." Yumi heavily sighed and stopped packing for a moment. Rubbing her temples, she sat on the floor. Everything was catching up to her. She and Ulrich hadn't talked for days, and the rest of the group was just as tense. Yumi, Aelita and Odd were all on Mina's side, against Ulrich and Jeremie. Poor Mina had no idea the pair was plotting to get rid of her.

"Odd?" Ulrich mumbled, turning to face the blonde's bed. "Odd!" When there was no response, Ulrich grumbled and stood, scratching his brown covered head. Getting an idea to lighten the situation, he picked up the flimsy bed pillow and stalked across the room. He reached the side of Odd's bed and looked at the sleeping blonde. Smirking, he brought the large pillow down on his room mate's head. A large hand reached up and grabbed the pillow, tossing it to the door.

"Leave me alone." Odd commanded.

Jeremie scurried around his room, tossing things into his large backpack. Jeremie did and didn't want to leave for the holiday break. He did because he couldn't handle any of his "friends" anymore, but he didn't because of the threat Mina brought them. A light tapping on his door caused him to turn around. There Ulrich stood with a sour look on his face. As he sat on the frail boy's bed he looked at his new closest, and seemingly only friend.

"Still tense?" Jeremie asked.

"What do you think?" He snapped in reply.

"Jeez, sorry I asked."

"Why do you have to leave, you've gotten out of going with your dad so many times before."

"I feel bad, Ulrich. I miss my family and I've been blowing them off too much."

"It's only a week, right?"

"Right! And it'll go by faster than you think, then I'll come back and we can make our final decision about SIFVE." The pair and gone back to referring to Mina as the SIFVE program.

"What should I do while you're gone?"

"Just... look out for any suspicious behavior from the others, don't let them get into Lyoko unless it's completely necessary. Remember, Xana still wants Aelita." Jeremie zipped up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder. Ulrich walked with him out of the school to wait for his dad.

Mina sat in a tower in the ice sector, bored. Resting her chin in her hand, she let out a loud sigh. She was too afraid to leave the safety of the tower, but she was getting restless. She hoped that something would happen so she could see Odd and the rest of her friends. Standing up, she walked to the edge of the bright panel and dove into the darkness. Her small body glowed and changed into her pure energy state. Before she knew it, she was in Sector Five. Running quickly to her destination, she panted quietly, aware of the odd silence throughout the large area.

"Can we go see her?" Odd asked Aelita as they sat in the cafeteria.

"Now?" Aelita looked at him, a smile smirk on her face. "A little eager, aren't we?"

"Aelitaaaaaaa." He groaned. "Please?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Looking around, they dashed for the woods. As they made it to the computer, Aelita pulled up a window. "Mina?" She waited for a moment, and suddenly, Mina's face appeared on the screen."

"Hello!" She exclaimed. "I'm so glad to speak to you, it's so lonely now that I've been on Earth for so long."

"Care for a visit?" Aelita asked cheerfully.

"Of course!" The screen blacked out while the pair laughed, heading for the scanners.

The friends fell to the ice sector's firm ground, to be greeted by a happy Mina prancing towards them. Hurling herself at Aelita, Mina wrapped her slender arms around her sister, squeezing her tight. Aelita laughed and gently detached herself, waiting for the reunion between the two love birds. Mina tightly wrapped her arms around Odd's shoulders as he slid his arms around her waist. Cupping his face, she stepped back and looked at the feline-clad boy in front of her.

"I missed you." He said quickly. She smiled and hugged him again.

"I missed you more."

"I'm going to go check out the other sectors, I'll let you know if anything weird is happening."

"Be careful." Mina said. Aelita nodded and ran off into the tower.

"How's life on Earth?" Mina asked, turning to face Odd once again.

"It's okay. How's Lyoko?"

"Strangely quiet. Are Ulrich, Jeremie and Yumi going to say hi?"

"Yumi's gone for a couple of weeks, and, well, Mina, we need to talk about Ulrich and Jeremie." Leading the young girl into the tower as a precaution, Odd began to tell her about how Ulrich and Jeremie are plotting to get rid of her and shut down Lyoko, with or without William. Mina stared at him, mouth hanging open. After Odd had finished, he looked at the distraught girl sitting next to him. Putting an arm around her, he waited.

"Why haven't they done it yet..." She started. "It'd be so easy."

"We won't let them."

"And they'll just leave William to die?"

"They're going insane." When Mina didn't respond, Odd held her tight, pulling her closer to him.

"Odd?"

"Yeah?" He looked at her.

"...I'm scared."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Aelita asked Odd. The young boy had offered to stay overnight on Lyoko to comfort Mina.

"Positive, it'll make her feel better."

"What if Ulrich comes to the factory?"

"Mina's locked us out before, she could do it again."

"But Odd-"

"Will you just trust me?" He grasped his friend's shoulders and looked at her seriously. "I'm staying." Aelita nodded and looked towards the tower.

"You'll keep her safe?"

"Of course, come on it's me we're talking about!" His signature grin crossed his face and he chuckled loudly. Aelita sighed with a small smile.

"I'll come back tomorrow morning, alright?" The blonde nodded and pointed his arm at her, hitting her with an arrow causing her to devirtualize. Looking around one last time, Odd dashed into the tower where Mina sat waiting.

"Let's go to Sector Five!" She said excitedly, getting ready to exit the tower. Odd caught her arm.

"Do you think that's a good idea? We're safest in the tower."

"Come on, Odd, I have you to protect me!" She said with a playful smile. Odd shook his head. Following Mina out of the tower, he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Standing at the edge of the sector, Mina grasped Odd's hand tightly as the orb started to glow. Surrounding her and Odd, it turned them both into the pure energy form. In a matter of seconds, they were in Sector Five.

Reaching the core via her energy board, Mina sat on top of the large ball of information, to Odd's surprise. The charm began to glow again, as did the bulbous sphere beneath her. Screens began to appear before her and she started feverishly tapping away at the information before her.

"What are you-" Odd started to say but a raised hand from Mina quieted. One screen began to blink and Mina smiled.

"Let's go" she said with a smile and the pair soared out, and made their way to the mountain sector. Odd looked around, confused. Then it hit him, literally. A gust of wind blew through the sector and nipped at his cheeks. He gasped when he could feel the cold air.

"What did you do..."

"I made weather! Just like Earth." She said, beaming."

"On all of the sectors?"

"Of course! Mina pranced through the mountain sector, leaping from the oddly placed land slabs with her feline friend following close behind on all fours. The wind was a harsher breeze, chilling Odd to the bone. When he saw Mina gesture to the tower, he followed as they entered and jumped off into the darkness and came back to the desert sector. Odd immediately noticed the dry heat and looked at Mina with uncertainty. She just smiled towards the sun brightly shining on them. As she concentrated, new clouds came over and covered some of the sun, blocking a bit of the heat. She tenderly grasped Odd's hand. "I'll always take care of you." She said when suddenly she was struck by a laser and knocked to the ground.

The next morning, Ulrich made his way through the woods to the sewer as he passed Aelita. Odd decided to stay a little longer, after a few monsters attacked Mina, he wanted to keep her safe.

"Where are you coming from?" He growled.

"None of your business." She continued on. Once she didn't see him anymore, she dashed to the Hermitage to go the other way to the factory. Making her way down the stairs, she panted heavily.

"Aelita," she heard behind her. There stood Ulrich with a smirk across his face, Grabbing her, he pulled her with him to the factory.

"Ulrich, what's happened to you?" She said meekly. She couldn't believe this, Ulrich was one of the sweetest people she'd ever met. He seemed to like Mina at first, everyone did. The brunette only grunted in reply. As they got closer to the factory, Aelita purposely tripped, causing Ulrich to fall with her. She got up and raced towards the factory. As she swung down the ropes, she was greeted by an angry Jeremie. The young girl gasped as he grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to Ulrich's feet. Looking up at her once friend, she saw something strange: the flicker of Xana's sign in his eyes. She yelped and looked at Jeremie closely as his eyes quickly did the same.

William jumping from the rafters caused her to scream. He landed on the ground with a loud thud, leaving to holes in the ground. He slowly walked towards Jeremie and put a hand on his shoulder. The dark mist that entered Mina, radiating from him into Jeremie. The walked over and did the same to Ulrich.

"What is going on..." She groaned.

"You couldn't just let us get rid of her, could you?" Ulrich growled to Aelita. Looking up at at them, she waited for him to continue. Ulrich got down in her face and stared at her; the Xana symbol continued to flicker across his eyes. William approached the pair and put a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. The brunette backed away leaving William to help up Aelita.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I'm about to tell you what we're going to do, and you're not going to do anything about it." He looked at the scared girl calmly. Opening his mouth, he spoke slowly. "The SIFVE was never meant to be a part of your world. It's a program, like me. You see, it holds the key element to Lyoko, the very essence of it. Sure the core holds a large amount, but the SIFVE is the true keeper of the life of me and my world. Removing it permanently will ultimately destroy Lyoko, taking William and any trace of Franz Hopper there is with it."

"No! Mina said there wasn't anything left!" Aelita cried.

"There are certain corners and holes that anyone can carelessly look over but Franz Hopper is still very much with us. Where was I? Ah, yes, I remember. Taking the SIFVE will also cause me to gain all the power that it no longer possesses. When you take away the SIFVE, Lyoko doesn't disappear, it turns into a virtual wasteland, run by me. I'll gain all control, and you'll never be able to shut down the super computer."

"You said it would destroy Lyoko..."

"The world you know, yes. And it will take anything that I want, and simply destroy it, like your good friend or father." He smirked when Aelita gasped. "You and I both know you don't want that. So if you could just give me back the SIFVE, I could simply destroy it, and everything will go back to normal. You'll get William back, and I'll send you in the right direction towards your father."

"How long have Ulrich and Jeremie been under your control?"

"Since the SIFVE so courageously saved your friend and dove after him into the digital sea. You were in the tower, he was by himself. I simply transferred some of myself into him, who passed it on. I had to keep coming back when they began to snap out of it, and give them more. It was a tedious task, really."

"So they never actually wanted her gone?"

"My abilities are a magnificent thing, aren't they? I brain washed them but still gave them their own personalities so suspicions wouldn't arise. You would just think they were awful." He laughed a little. "I amaze myself sometimes."

"Xana... why didn't you just take her? We both know you're stronger than that."

"To be quite honest, I wanted to have some fun with it. You're all so young, so naïve, I could do anything I wanted. It was a fun time, I enjoyed myself." Turning to face Jeremie and Ulrich, William closed his eyes. The black smoke began to come out of the two and back into William. Once the last bits were gone, both of the boys stumbled a bit, dazed. Once they saw William standing by Aelita, they jumped into action, or tried.

"Stop!" Aelita yelled. They looked at her, confused.

"I'm simply looking for the SIFVE." William stated.

"We don't know where she is..." Ulrich said.

"I know you wouldn't, but Aelita would." All three looked at her. Glancing between the three of them with wide eyes, she swallowed loudly.

"I don't... uh..." She trailed off. Averting her gaze, she inhaled sharply. Moving as quick as she ever has, she kicked a cloud of dirt and dust into the air, causing the trio to cough and rub their eyes. She took off to the elevator. As she made her way down, she sprinted to the microphone at the computer. "Lock them out!" She yelled hoping they could hear her.

Odd looked up towards the voice. Mina let go of his hand. There was an entire army outside the lone tower, one of the blocks had hit Mina. Odd half carried, half dragged her into the tower. She quickly stood in the center of the lit platform and was lifted to the upper level. A screen popped up where she began typing. After a quick code, "DEFENSIVE MECHANISM ACTIVATED" showed up in big bright letters. "STATUS: LOCKED." Mina jumped and slowly fell back down to Odd. She took his arm and pulled him over the edge. They ran out into the now humid forest sector. It was raining and the air was thick and uncomfortable. Mina looked around quickly and darted towards a narrow path, Odd bounding after her. She made it to a clearing and collapsed, laying down to let the rain hit her. Odd sat next to her, panting.

A screen popped up in front of her, and she began to type. The heat from the forest turned into a comfortable, moderate temperature.

"Did you see how many monsters were out there?" She whispered.

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't have had enough time to make them go away without being devirtualized. Why did Aelita tell us to lock them out?"

"I don't want to worry about it right now, they can't get in right?"

"Yes, but, who's they?"

"...I don't know."

"Hello, SIFVE." A voice boomed over the large and dark sky. Mina snapped up into a sitting position, with Odd close to her, holding her hand.

"Hello," she said timidly, "Xana."

"Your friend Aelita got to you before I could, but I should tell you, that every second I'm not in Lyoko, I'm causing all kinds of trouble on Earth, at your school, to your friends and peers."

"I think he's lying." Odd said quietly.

"On the contrary," William, said to Odd, "I'm being very truthful."

"Mina!" They heard Aelita yell.

"Odd?" Ulrich shouted. Odd and Mina looked at each other.

"Now let's try this again. Unlock Lyoko, and I won't cause any harm to them." He boomed. When Mina didn't respond, he sent an electrical shock to Ulrich who grunted loudly.

"Ulrich!" Aelita yelled.

"I don't trust Ulrich and Jeremie..." Mina started, looking at Odd.

"I'm sure once you let me back in, we can sort this all out. They're still on your side. Please, I don't want to hurt your friends just because you're being difficult."

"...Alright." Mina said finally. Odd looked at her, shocked.

"Mina?" He asked quietly. She gave his hand a squeeze.

"He's going to hurt them." She mumbled and stood. Odd stood with her on her energy board and they soared to the nearest tower. She ran inside and entered a new code. "STATUS: UNLOCKED." She leapt back to the bottom and exited. Standing close to Odd, they waited. In a matter of seconds, a black cloud formed in front of them and William appeared. He had a menacing grin on his face. As he stalked towards Mina and Odd, he drew his weapon. Drawing energy into it, he threw a black cloud at Odd. Mina grabbed him and threw him aside, hitting him with an energy field. Odd looked at her as he was devirtualized. Mina took no time to dash into the tower behind her with William close behind.

As he raced to the computer room, he was met by a frantic trio of his friends. Xana had fried the system, they couldn't go in to help Mina.


	20. Final Chapter

"I've had enough," Mina mumbled to herself as she reached the second platform. William was below her, laughing. A screen appeared before her again, and she typed another code. "CODE: BLACKOUT." Everything went dark. She quietly dove over the edge, whizzing past a confused William. Emerging from the tower, she entered the ice sector. Her eyes glowed bright white as she looked around the pitch black sector. The biting cold made her shiver non stop. "What a horrible decision." She remarked, referring to the weather.

"Mina?" She heard Aelita's voice echo through the darkness. "Mina if you can hear me, Xana's fried the system, we can't get to you."

"It's better that you stay away."

"What do you mean?"

"William-"

"Xana."

"Xana might hurt you, I can't take that chance anymore."

"Hey Mina?" She heard Ulrich ask her.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Jeremie and I... we're just-"

"Sorry. We're so sorry for everything we did to you. We didn't know." Jeremie cut in.

"You didn't know?"

"They weren't themselves," Aelita's voice again. "Xana put something in them to pretty much brainwash them." She looked at her friends. "Xana fooled all of us."

"I miss Yumi!" Mina cried, "She would be able to help somehow."

"We have to head back to school, Mina." Aelita said. "When should we come back?"

"Don't. Not just yet, I have to fix Lyoko and try to get Xana out of your friend."

"We can't just leave you-" Odd started.

"You're going to have to, check in in about two weeks, things should be almost back to normal."

"I can't- we can't ignore this for two weeks!" Odd yelled.

"Please just go back to school. I'll handle this." She ran across the ice sector. Stopping in the center, she took her pure energy form and transported back to sector five. She was going to fix things.

"Aelita," Odd pleaded, "Jeremie? Isn't there anything you can do?" Jeremie sat at the computer and tried a few different things. Sighing, he turned around.

"I'm not even sure where to start, we should leave it to Mina, I'm sorry."

"You don't know where to start!? You're a genius, and you don't know where to start!?" Odd was yelling now and Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder.

"Odd... come on, let's all go back to school, we need to talk about what's happened." Odd looked at him, confused and upset. The group retreated back to Kadic, and waited. As the four reconciled, Ulrich and Odd hugged, and Jeremie gave Aelita a reassuring pat on the back. Retreating to their rooms, they stayed away from the factory for the two weeks. They decided to wait until Yumi came back, so they could all figure out what to do.

When Yumi arrived home, she was met by her distraught friends. After filling her in on Jeremie and Ulrich's situation, she was elated. Throwing herself into Ulrich's arms, she held on to him tightly, saying she was sorry, but him interrupting saying he was more sorry.

They all decided they would give Mina one more day before they came back. Yumi got settled in, and resumed her classes as normal, having to make up an extra week of work from her extended vacation. The rest of the group's break had consisted of worrying and sleepless nights. Odd and Ulrich stayed up, Odd talking and worrying about Mina. Ulrich moped over Yumi's absence. They were company for each other. Thankful that the group returned to normal, Aelita still worried about Mina. She did her best to protect her, and she followed her orders like a servant, which she technically was designed to be. The pink haired girl silently vowed to make sure Mina never felt like she had to be a defender of her once this mess was sorted out.

Aelita woke early in the morning and quietly snuck out of her room. Making her way towards Odd's door, she tiptoed. As she tapped her knuckles against the door lightly, she heard Kiwi grumble and Odd grunt. The door creaked open. Odd's hair was a mess and his eyes were half closed.

"Today's the day." She whispered. Odd's face broke into a smile and he rushed inside, waking Ulrich and throwing on some clothes. Ulrich quickly followed his friend out the door towards Jeremie room where they quickly woke him and they snuck very easily out of the darkened school. Racing into the woods, they were met by a tired Yumi, still in her pajamas. They looked at her strangely.

"What?" She snapped. No one said anything. She looked down at her black shorts and oversized red t-shirt. "What!?"

"Nothing, nothing." Jeremie responded as he opened the sewer. Running through the cold tunnel, the group was silent. They all just wanted Mina and William back, and they were going to get them.

"Ready?" Ulrich asked the group. They nodded with excitement. Jeremie sat down at the computer and pulled up a screen.

"Mina?" He said softly. The brunette appeared on the screen, looking distraught. "How's everything going?" She didn't say anything at first. Trying to find the words to say, she paused.

"It's like a battlefield. Xana's really pulled out the big guns. But, I do have good news!"

"What?"

"I found the program to materialize William and get Xana out of him. There are some problems with it though."

"Like...?"

"Well I need something to get Xana out of him."

"Any ideas?"

"Yes. A scyphozoa. I've been working on the ability to take advantage of monsters, like Xana does. I think I can do it."

"Wait," Ulrich cut in, "you've had that power?"

"That would've been useful!" Yumi yelled.

"If I knew this power was even a real thing, don't you think I would've used it?" She snapped. "Honestly, you underestimate me so much."

"Anyway..." Jeremie trailed off. "Are you ready for them?"

"Yes." She huffed. "Is Odd with them?"

"We're all here, Mina." Odd said with a smile.

"Good. Come on in everyone!" The team headed to the scanners. Yumi and Aelita first, then Odd and Ulrich. They were immediately met by a frantic Mina. She threw herself into Odd. As he held her, the group silently watched. "I missed you, she mumbled."

"I missed you more." He breathed. Those two weeks were rough for him. He couldn't stop thinking about her, not once.

"Guys..." Ulrich interrupted. They pulled apart to watch the approaching army in the distance.

"Hurry," Mina said softly and raced towards the tower. As they all stood on the lit up panel, she looked at all of them. Mina looked confused, and conflicted.

"What's wrong?" Yumi asked.

"There's just so much that needs to be done, I don't know if we'll have enough time."

"If it doesn't all get done today, we can try tomorrow-"

"No! I've had enough of putting you through this! We're getting William, and getting rid of Xana. Today. No matter what." She looked at Aelita with a stressed expression. Aelita quickly hugged her, relaxing Mina.

"We will." She agreed, smiling. So, they began. Exiting the tower they were greeted by an absolute army of Xana's monsters, led by William. They had decided they needed to protect Mina while she made groups of the disappear. Forming a barrier, they surrounding her, facing the army. Ulrich raced towards them, leaping on top of the first crab he saw, he drove his saber into the symbol and quickly leapt off, dodging lasers as the made his way to the next. Mina focused on a certain group of monsters, they flickered and disappeared.

Aelita sprouted her wings and flew into the crowd, carrying Yumi. As she dropped her friend, Yumi threw her fans and watched as they sliced through four different monsters, causing them to explode. Mina fell to the ground as she was hit by a monster, and Odd quickly pulled her up.

"Sorry." He said quickly, making sure she was okay before racing towards his friends in the army. Three blocks soon surrounded Mina. Leaping into the air, she landing on her hands on the top of one, flipping over it and darting into the mass. She dodged and slid under crabs and blocks, doing her best to make it through the endless crowd of monsters. Finding a clear spot, she focused until her head hurt, and a large group of crabs were deleted. Holding her head, she steadied herself. She spotted Aelita soaring through the air, firing energy fields. Ulrich leapt high above the army, being caught by Aelita and transported to a different area. Yumi seemed to dance through the monsters, tossing her fans until she was hit. Quickly recovering, she got back on her feet and continued on. Mina watched around her in a dreamlike state, everything was moving in slow motion to her. Snapping out of it, she got back to her original plan. Dropping her head, the charm started to glow and shake. She breathed deeply as her powers channeled her desired monster. Just as she hoped, a schyphozoa approached her. Allowing it to pick her up, the tentacles connected to her head. Before it could do anything, her eyes began to glow a bright white. The pink light normally swimming around it's large head turned white, and it placed her gently on the ground.

She sent it towards William, hoping it will all work out. Hearing Odd yell out, she followed her gaze to him, as he was being backed towards the edge of the sector. Shooting arrows very quickly at his foes, Odd's foot slipped behind him. As he stopped abruptly, he looked behind him at the digital sea below. There was so no way Mina was going to let this happen a second time. Sprinting across the ice towards the group, she stared intently at the monsters, they flickered and disintegrated. A block hit Odd before it was destroyed, knocking him over. Mina slid on her stomach to the edge and just grabbed his arms. Letting out a large cry as her arms were yanked at an uncomfortable position.

"I told you I'll always protect you." She said with a grunt. Familiar arms wrapped around Mina's waist as Ulrich pulled them both up. Suddenly, the temperature dropped, and they could feel the cold.

"What..." Ulrich said. "What's going on?"

"Oh no." Mina said. "The weather." Snow started to fall from the sky. Mina looked up as snowflakes hit her cheeks, the cold water melting and running down her face. "Xana's taking advantage of the weather I made."

"What weather!" Aelita called, still high in the sky.

"I just! I missed Earth, so I created weather, so I could feel something. I did a lot more..." She finished quickly.

"Like?" Jeremie asked.

"That's not important, I just added human aspects to Lyoko." A loud, deep cry was heard in the mass of monsters. Mina smiled. The scyphozoa had finally gotten to William and was putting the white energy into him. She took off towards him, her friends close behind. Yumi noticed and followed towards the loud cries. The monsters seemed to back off without their leader. The group watched as the white mist traveled through the long tentacles. "We have to get him to a tower."

They watched as the last remains flowed into their friend. Aelita gasped with excitement as he was dropped to the ground. The monster retreated and Mina ran over to William. In a dazed state, he groaned as Mina pulled him up. The rest of her friends helped her get him into a standing position. The snow falling had turned into a blizzard, and kept falling harder, turning into a whiteout. Lasers shooting from behind them reminded the team that there was an army now aiming for them when they couldn't see them.

"Everyone protect Mina and William until she gets into a tower." Jeremie said from the computer. Yumi and Aelita ran off, Ulrich soon following. Odd raced over to Mina to help her move William. Crabs began racing towards the tower. Mina quickly dropped William into Odd's arms and used her tentacles of energy to destroy the oncoming enemies. Breathless and freezing, she very poorly brought about her energy board where she knelt with William and had Odd do most of the steering. Soaring straight into the tower she dismounted, dragging the taller boy off. Looking at Odd, she smiled sadly.

"You can't be in the tower when I do this." She said. Odd wrapped his arms around her waist and lightly gave her a peck. She smiled and hugged him tightly. "Let's hope everything works out okay."

"It will. You're brilliant." Odd smiled and stood back and looked at her. "I can't wait to have you back on Earth, Mina."

"I've missed you, Odd. I'm so glad I got the chance to meet and know all of you."

"And we're gonna have all the time in the world when you come back. We can spend more time together. And you can get to know William, he's actually not that bad, a little arrogant, but nice." She laughed. Holding his hand, she looked down at William's unconscious form.

"I would so badly have liked to know William."

"It's fine, everything will be fine after this, right?" He squeezed her hand. All she did was smile at him.

"You're so lovely, Odd." She kissed him. "So very lovely." A pause. "But you have to get out now," her voice shook. "I have to do this before something worse happens."

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"I'm... I'm scared." She stated. "But all will be fine in the end, go now." Odd slowly let go of her hand as he exited the tower. The monsters outside were dangerously close to the tower so he walked right into the fighting. He didn't hesitate in joining his team.

Mina hoisted up William and held him to her. They floated up until he was held midway. She continued to the top where a screen popped up. "SIFVE. CODE: PURGE." William's body shook as Xana was pulled from him. The tower around her rocked and shook. All of Lyoko was moving.

"Mina?" Jeremie asked. "What's going on?"

"Xana's not letting go that easily. Materialize everyone, hurry!" Jeremie began typing and soon Yumi and Ulrich came out of the scanners, soon followed by Aelita and Odd. They all raced to the computer room to join Jeremie.

"What's she doing?" Ulrich asked for the rest of his friends.

"I don't know." Jeremie said.

Aelita gasped, "I know what she's doing."

Mina pulled up another screen. "CODE?" She entered "MINA" the inside of the tower turned black as she dropped down and held on to William. The charm burst, all the essence floating around and surrounding William. The black mist was forced out of him by the teal blue flurry of energy weaving in and out of William. Back in the core of Lyoko, energy from the large fear flickered and traveled to Mina, helping her help William.

"Mina!" Aelita called. "Please don't!"

"Xana lied to you." Mina said. "Your father isn't here anymore, you don't have to worry."

"Don't do this! We need you!"

"What is she doing?" Yumi yelled, the entire group panicking.

"She's... using her life to force out Xana's. Mina's... destroying herself, Lyoko, and Xana." She said quietly. Odd grabbed the microphone.

"Mina!?" He called.

"Please," she started, "don't forget me." Mina's entire body took the pure energy form, then burst into a million teal blue sparks, floating around William. His body starting returning to normal, his original Lyoko attire returned, and as the sparks dispersed, his body was gone. All of Lyoko went into a state of darkness. The sectors began to fall apart, carrying the monsters with them. There was nothing anymore, no towers, sectors, and Carthage was reduced to nothing.

The whir of the elevator caused them all to turn around to see a confused and tired William. They ran to him, elated. A loud sound of something shutting down caused all of them to run to the supercomputer. It was no longer lit up, Lyoko had ultimately died, taking Mina with it.

Odd placed a shaky hand on the cool surface of the giant cylinder. He choked back a sob. Aelita held on to his arm as she began to cry. Ulrich held Yumi as their looks of despair dragged their faces to the ground. Jeremie simply sat on the ground, unsure of what else to do. William stood and looked at his upset friends, not saying a word.

In order to save her friends, Mina had sacrificed herself. She knew Xana wouldn't go down without something in return. So she used her essence to free William. There was never any trace of Franz Hopper, Xana lied to trick them. Destroying Lyoko and shutting down the supercomputer was Mina's last action taken to protect Aelita, Odd, and the friends she made.

As everyone finally composed themselves, they slowly walked back to the computer room. Looking at the dark screen, there was no talking. Aelita held on to Odd's arm, and Yumi hung off of Ulrich. Tapping his foot on the ground, Jeremie turned away.

"Come on." He said finally. "We have to go to class." Without saying anything, the group wandered out of the factory that had bonded them together as friends, and had introduced them to Mina. They knew they never had to come back, which left an emptiness in them. Yumi told William they'd fill him in later, on everything, and after that, not another word was said.

Jeremie found a way to contact the school as Mina's "parents" and immediately request her withdrawl from school. Without many questions asked, her friends cleared out her room, and made an attempt to proceed with normal everyday life. For the longest time, an emptiness rested inside of Odd, he just couldn't get her out of his head. The rest of his friends felt a certain numbness, but tried to return to normalcy.

They had found a new friend and was taken on a new adventure. Only when she sacrificed herself for them, did they understand how much she loved each and every one of them. Appreciative for all she did, they promised to never forget her.


End file.
